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Incentives Embedded in Institutions: The Case of Share Contracts in Ghanaian Cocoa Production

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Author Info
Takane, Tsutomu
Abstract

Providing price incentives to farmers is usually considered essential for agricultural development. Although such incentives are important, regarding price as the sole explanatory factor is far from satisfactory in understanding the complex realities of agricultural production in Africa. By analyzing the share contracts widely practiced in Ghana, this article argues that local institutions such as land tenure systems and agrarian contracts provide strong incentives and disincentives for agricultural production. Based on data derived from fieldwork in the 1990s, the study analyzes two types of share contracts and the incentive structures embedded in them. The analysis reveals that farmers' investment behavior needs to be understood in terms of both short-term incentive to increase yield and long-term incentive to strengthen land rights. The study concludes that the role of price incentives in agricultural production needs to be reconsidered by placing it in wider incentive structures embedded in local institutions.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO) in its journal The Developing Economies.

Volume (Year): 38 (2000)
Issue (Month): 3 (September)
Pages: 374-397
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Handle: RePEc:jet:deveco:v:38:y:2000:i:3:p:374-397

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Related research
Keywords: Cacao Rural societies Farm management Ghana

Find related papers by JEL classification:
Q1 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture

References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Nabli, Mustapha K. & Nugent, Jeffrey B., 1989. "The New Institutional Economics and its applicability to development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 17(9), pages 1333-1347, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Bardhan, Pranab, 1989. "The new institutional economics and development theory: A brief critical assessment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 17(9), pages 1389-1395, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Braverman, Avishay & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1982. "Sharecropping and the Interlinking of Agrarian Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(4), pages 695-715, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Leach, Melissa & Mearns, Robin & Scoones, Ian, 1999. "Environmental Entitlements: Dynamics and Institutions in Community-Based Natural Resource Management," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 225-247, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Kikuchi, Masao & Hayami, Yujiro, 1999. "Technology, Market, and Community in Contract Choice: Rice Harvesting in the Philippines," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 47(2), pages 371-86, January.
  6. Bhaduri, Amit, 1973. "A Study in Agricultural Backwardness under Semi-Feudalism," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 83(329), pages 120-37, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Besley, Timothy, 1995. "Property Rights and Investment Incentives: Theory and Evidence from Ghana," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(5), pages 903-37, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Bateman, Merrill J. & Meeraus, Alexander & Newbery, David M. & Okyere, William Asenso & O'Mara, Gerald T., 1990. "Ghana's cocoa pricing policy," Policy Research Working Paper Series 429, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  9. Taslim, M. A., 1988. "Tenancy and interlocking markets: issues and some evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 655-666, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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