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Changing land and labour relations on cocoa farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and change

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  • Yaro, Joseph Awetori
  • Teye, Joseph Kofi
  • Wiggins, Steve

Abstract

Ever since the late 1880s when cocoa began to be grown commercially in Ghana, land and labour has been mobilized to expand the area under cocoa trees and cultivate the crop. The first cocoa farmers ingeniously used and adapted existing social norms for land acquisition and recruitment of labour from both the extended family and from migrants. The resulting development of cocoa was a remarkable story of African innovation and enterprise that made the then Gold Coast one of the most prosperous parts of Africa by the mid-twentieth century. We look at how land and labour has been mobilized for cocoa in Sefwi, western Ghana, from the start of cocoa growing in the region in the 1940s through to 2019. We ask what current norms are, how they have evolved, and why changes to them have been made. Changes in land and labour relations in the area have not followed the linear evolutionary theory of land tenure change neither have they remained as unique immutable customary structures. We note a flexible, reversible and highly pragmatic logic in tandem with the ruling exigencies that account for patterns of change over time.

Suggested Citation

  • Yaro, Joseph Awetori & Teye, Joseph Kofi & Wiggins, Steve, 2024. "Changing land and labour relations on cocoa farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and change," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:wodepe:v:34:y:2024:i:c:s2452292924000213
    DOI: 10.1016/j.wdp.2024.100584
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gareth Austin, 2014. "Vent for surplus or productivity breakthrough? The Ghanaian cocoa take-off, c. 1890–1936," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 67(4), pages 1035-1064, November.
    2. Otsuka, Keijiro & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Payongayong, Ellen & Aidoo, J.B., 2003. "Land tenure and the management of land and trees: the case of customary land tenure areas of Ghana," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(1), pages 77-104, February.
    3. Genevieve LeBaron & Ellie Gore, 2020. "Gender and Forced Labour: Understanding the Links in Global Cocoa Supply Chains," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(6), pages 1095-1117, June.
    4. Eberhard, Erich K. & Hicks, Jessica & Simon, Adam C. & Arbic, Brian K., 2022. "Livelihood considerations in land-use decision-making: Cocoa and mining in Ghana," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).
    5. Asante, Kofi Takyi, 2023. "The politics of policy failure in Ghana: The case of oil palm," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    6. Joseph Kofi Teye & Gertrude Dzifa Torvikey & Joseph Awetori Yaro, 2021. "Changing Labour Relations in Commercial Agrarian Landscapes in Ghana," Springer Books, in: Praveen Jha & Walter Chambati & Lyn Ossome (ed.), Labour Questions in the Global South, chapter 0, pages 413-438, Springer.
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