Rural Supply Chain in the Urbanizing Country: the case of Kwahu, Ghana

Bc. Barbora Zajacová

Master's thesis

Abstract:

Transparency of food supply chains and traceability as aspects of food quality assurance have gained lately more and more importance. Access to food for consumer in Third World cities depends largely on traditional domestic supply chains. Local food and agriculture are positioned as o core element of regional rural development. Ghana as a middle-income West African country employs in agricultural sector almost half of the national labor force and agriculture is a key sector of Ghana´s economy. History of the trading in the country started with the first settlers came to the country and used barter system as main method of trading.This thesis dealt with the local food supply chain in the Kwahu district. Characteristic features of the main channels involved in these chains were analyzed. Role of the farmer, middlemen and consumer were specified. We focused on the local markets, farm characteristics, main cultivated crops and market activities of the farmer,consumer shopping preferences and opinion on the quality of the purchased items. Main research questions studied relations between location of the farm and number of channels involved in the supply chain and if the size of the farm has an impact on farmer´s market activities. Results have proven that even there is a relationship between these variables, we do not know how strong these relationships are. The survey nevertheless identified food supply chains in the Kwahu area as short supply chains, because there is not many different groups of channels involved in the goods exchange and relationships are very strong because they are direct.

Keywords

local markets, local production, short chain, food supply

Jazyk práce: English

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 25. 8. 2017

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Vedúci: doc. Dr. RNDr. Tomáš Ratinger
• Oponent: Pavlína Hálová, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

Master programme / odbor:
Tropical Agriculture / International Development and Agricultural Economics