Paper short abstract:

The paper examines from the viewpoint of the changes in the marketing system the apparent contradiction of the yam in Ghana: a labour-demanding crop for farmers, with high price in urban markets for traders due to information asymmetry, and amazing increases in production and yields led by farmers

Paper long abstract:

Termed as an 'extravagant' or 'irrational' crop with high labour inputs, significant transport costs, demanding soils requirements and costly seed production, yam has been doomed to disappear in a world dominated by the so-called 'superfoods' (maize, rice and wheat) and, more often than not, has been relegated to the margins in agricultural policies and research efforts. Even though it has generally reached high prices in urban markets, cultural attachment and restricted opportunities have been usually argued as the only reasons to keep rural farmers growing a crop whose profits seemed elusive for them because of an information asymmetry that benefitted mainly traders. Nevertheless, farmers in Ghana have led a spectacular increase in yields and production, especially from the 1980s, to the point that yam is currently the most important crop in value in this country.

This paper analyses this apparent contradiction examining from a historical point of view the changes in the Ghanaian marketing system and their effects on production, with a special focus on the role of the farmers in these changes. From a trader- to a farmer-dominated system, yam marketing in Ghana is currently a very competitive and vibrant market characterised by a quick flow of information, complex arrangements between the actors involved - including the complete blurring of their roles -, the opening of numerous producers' markets, and multiple financial and contract agreements to ensure production and supply to a market that, nonetheless, remains complex and puzzling for all its participants.