Determinants of Farmers’ Satisfaction with the Price of Cocoa in Ghana

This paper sheds light on one key aspect of the liberalisation of export crop marketing in developing countries which has received a lot of research attention, namely pricing. The government of Ghana has been criticised by many researchers for its stance against price liberalisation in the cocoa sector, owing to its stringent monopoly over pricing. The current study does not delve into the pros and cons of price liberalisation, but seeks to investigate the factors influencing producers’ satisfaction with pricing. Using cross-sectional data and a log it model, the study revealed that farmers’ age, educational status and farm income were the significant factors influencing producers’ satisfaction with the price of cocoa in Ghana. The paper concludes that attempts to draw the youth into cocoa farming is not likely to be successful considering the disenchantment of younger farmers with cocoa pricing in Ghana.