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Structuring African Warehouse Receipt Systems to Succeed

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  • Anthony Aboagye

Abstract

Development economists have preached that functioning warehouse receipt systems (WRSs) will help smallholder African farmers access loans to help reduce poverty and enhance financial inclusion. Unfortunately, many reviews of African country WRSs have concluded that anticipated benefits are not accruing to smallholder farmers. Given the theoretical case and positive experience elsewhere, this paper meticulously reviewed reports that WRSs are not working in the interest of African farmers to identify the challenges. Then, several scenarios in respect of use of WRSs were formulated and analysed for Ghana and Uganda. Scenarios include paying/not paying collateral management fees, grading/not grading maize, using/not using warehouse receipts (WR) as collateral, using community warehouses, etc. Malawi and Zambia are also discussed. The paper concludes that the potential for positive impact of WRSs on the lives of smallholder African farmers exists. However, it is necessary to structure WRSs to suit the situation of smallholder African farmers. The key to profitably implementing WRSs in Africa is not to blindly replicate WRSs as implemented in other jurisdictions. Important African specific context ingredients include focusing on community warehouses rather than commercial warehouses, not focusing on grading of grains and not implementing full-scale collateral management arrangements.

Suggested Citation

  • Anthony Aboagye, 2023. "Structuring African Warehouse Receipt Systems to Succeed," Athens Journal of Business & Economics, Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER), vol. 9(4), pages 475-492, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:ate:journl:ajbev9i4-5
    DOI: 10.30958/ajbe.9-4-5
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    1. repec:bla:afrdev:v:29:y:2017:i:s2:p:135-146 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Katunze, Miriam & Kuteesa, Annette & Mujumbi, Theresa & Mahebe, Denis, "undated". "Uganda Warehousing Receipt System: Improving Market Competitiveness and Service Delivery," Research Series 260026, Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC).
    3. Sitko, Nicholas J. & Jayne, T.S., 2012. "Why are African commodity exchanges languishing? A case study of the Zambian Agricultural Commodity Exchange," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 275-282.
    4. Miranda, Mario J. & Mulangu, Francis M. & Kemeze, Francis H., "undated". "Warehouse Receipt Financing for Smallholders in Developing Countries: Short on Logic, Long on Imagination," 2019 Annual Meeting, July 21-23, Atlanta, Georgia 291012, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Mario J. Miranda & Francis M. Mulangu & Francis H. Kemeze, 2019. "Warehouse receipt financing for smallholders in developing countries: Challenges and limitations," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 50(5), pages 629-641, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kohnert, Dirk, 2025. "Seeding Growth: Unlocking the Potential of Agricultural Commodity Exchanges in Sub-Saharan Africa," MPRA Paper 125200, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Kohnert, Dirk, 2025. "Semer la croissance: Libérer le potentiel des bourses de produits agricoles en Afrique subsaharienne [Seeding Growth: Unlocking the Potential of Agricultural Commodity Exchanges in Sub-Saharan Afri," MPRA Paper 125237, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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