Is Marketing Board a Barrier or a Stimulant of Agricultural Production in West Africa? A Comparative Study of Ghana and Nigeria Cocoa Pricing Eras

This study focuses on examining the marketing policies of cocoa in West Africa with specific interest in comparing the prices of cocoa during marketing board eras of Nigeria and Ghana. The objectives of this study include examining the prevailing economic situations; comparing producer prices during the different pricing eras; and evaluating the effect of the marketing board eras on cocoa production in Ghana and Nigeria. Time series data for the period 1966 to 2009, were sourced from Cocoa Research Institute, Ibadan; Cocobod Annual Report, Accra; Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nation Statistics Division (FAOSTAT) and Annual Bulletin of Statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics of Nigeria. Descriptive statistics, trend analysis and Co-Integration Analysis were used to analyse the data. Results from this study revealed that there is linear trend in the cocoa production during the marketing board era as compared to the post-marketing board era in the two countries. This is attributed to the increase in the prices experienced in post marketing board era. The study established that the marketing board era and prices affected the production of cocoa. The marketing board era had positive impact on the cocoa production although the trend analysis revealed the post marketing era has higher production. However, in Ghana the marketing board era was not significant while cocoa price was significant in explaining the variation in Ghana’s cocoa production. The study recommends that Government of West Africa counties especially Nigeria and cocoa farmers should learn from the price stabilization mechanism of marketing board era especially from the Ghana reformation in order to have a sustainable economic development and policy that stimulates production.Keywords: Cocoa, Ghana, Market Board, Nigeria, Co – integration and Pric