Cover_Rebuilding West Africas Food Potential

68 Rebuilding West Africa’s food potential

Smallholder farmers also produce pineapple in Ghana, as this product is accessible and labour-intensive

(Takane, 2004). However, smallholders are excluded from the pineapple export value chain because

they are unable to meet the stringent standards and specific quality specifications of European retailers.

Among these is the requirement to buy only the Smooth Cayenne pineapple variety. Small producers

were not able to switch easily from existing varieties, due to the expense and investment required, and

were thus excluded from European markets. As small farmers lost export market share because of the

change of variety demanded by buyers, their incomes fell.

The sector is segmented: medium and large farms dominate export production and small farmers

produce pineapple for the local market, with smaller income prospects. Thus the stringent standards

serve as a real barrier for smallholders who would otherwise have the capacity to produce and supply

these exportable commodities, as they have no difficulty acquiring productive capital or obtaining credit

for inputs (Ravry and Danielou, 2005).

In summary, the case of the pineapple in Ghana is an example of a value chain focused on an export

market led by multinational food retailers whose primary objective is to meet high-income consumer

demands for diversified, high-quality food products. The effect on the producers upstream is to favour

large-scale and well-capitalized producers who are able to make a successful entry into the market.

Small farmers who have the capacity to produce and supply are handicapped by their inability to meet

the compliance costs. Thus the value chain, to the extent that it offers significant scope for growth and

expansion, needs a policy framework that will not only enable sustained competitiveness but also enhance

smallholders’ capacity to participate in the value chains. This could be accomplished by expanding

market outlets and providing incentives for value addition to the products serving domestic or regional

markets, thus contributing to more inclusive value chain development. Clearly the impressive growth

of the export volume (and value) for pineapple from Ghana points to a real competitive advantage;

however, the exclusion of smallholder producers with highlights a gap that needs to be corrected in

the context of an agricultural growth strategy based on a wide diversification of inclusive value chains.

B. The banana sector in Côte d’Ivoire: Liberalization improves competitiveness but

marginalizes smallholders

In Côte d’Ivoire, production of bananas is combined with mango and pineapple to form the so-called

“fruit” value chain, which represents the second largest source of export for the country (OCAB, 2000). This

production focuses almost exclusively on exports, as less than a third is for the local market. The banana sector

has been heavily supervised since its inception during the colonial period. After independence, new institutions

were created, starting with the Technical Assistance for the Modernization of Banana and Fruit Production

Company (SOMOBAF) set up in 1962, and then the National Packaging Society (SONACO) established in

1963. Different cooperatives, grouped under a single large cooperative, managed banana production. The
      Côte d’Ivoire’s Banana and Fruit Production Agricultural Cooperative (COFRUCI) was replaced in 1975 by
      the state-run Ivorian Fruits and Vegetables Marketing Company (Koffi Kouassi et al., 2005) which folded
      three years later, opening the door for the return of a cooperative, reinstated as Producers’ Cooperative
      for Commercialization of Fruits and Legumes in Côte d’Ivoire (COFRUITEL). This institution then experienced
      managerial and technical difficulties, resulting in a real crisis for the banana value chain and a significant drop
      in production (from 166 000 tonnes in 1974 to 86 000 tonnes in 1982) and fruit quality deterioration (Koffi
      Kouassi et al., 2005). The COFRUITEL was disbanded in 1986, thus opening opportunities for autonomous
      export structures while the government withdrew from production altogether.