FIELD UPDATE – GHANA AGRICULTURAL MARKETS: Ghana Commodity Exchange Market Council Stakeholder Meeting
07/16/2019 | by Yaw Nyarko
On the 2nd of July 2019, the Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) held a Market Council meeting to introduce sorghum into the exchange. As part of the meeting, members of the stake holding public (some farmers, traders, reps from Guinness Ghana Ltd – the largest buyer of Sorghum in Ghana – exporters, the Ghana Standards Authority, and members of my research institute – CTED) were taken through the processes required to access the exchange as a sorghum buyer or seller.
It was agreed by the council that only white sorghum will be accepted to trade in the exchange – no brown, pink or red sorghum. The minimum quantity or units of sorghum to be traded is 1000 kg (1 metric ton or 20 standard 50 kg bags). There will be warehouse charges and other handling charges, just as with maize, which is currently traded on the exchange. There will also be tests conducted to check whether the product is free from aflatoxins that are harmful for human consumption as well as impurities such as stones, worms, and any other substances other than sorghum.
CTED's Community Development Officer, Mr. Solomon Mensah, giving his opinion on what the minimum quantity of Sorghum traded per day should be
Ms. Wendy Malm, the Trading Operations and Market Data Manager for GCX, moderating the meeting
My research team members in attendance were our Community Development Officer and a member of our Media Team. Stay tuned for more updates on our research with the GCX.
Ghana Agricultural Markets Overview: The goal of our research is to understand how improved markets for agricultural commodities can transform the agricultural value chain from farmers and their farming systems on the one hand, to firms and their purchasing and planning systems on the other. We focus on the rural economy in sub-Saharan Africa, using Ghana as our principal study area. Our belief in the power of sustained, organized, or centralized markets comes from many sources, but primarily through the history of the ingenuity of Ghanaian farmers themselves. Our research measures the importance of having sustained output markets and will examine how market innovations can kick-start agricultural transformations.