Small-Town Agricultural Markets in Northern Ghana and Their Connection to Rural and Urban Transformation

Hanna Karg (), Imogen Bellwood-Howard, Edmund K. Akoto-Danso, Johannes Schlesinger, Takemore Chagomoka and Axel Drescher
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Hanna Karg: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Imogen Bellwood-Howard: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Edmund K. Akoto-Danso: Universität Kassel
Johannes Schlesinger: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Takemore Chagomoka: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Axel Drescher: Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

The European Journal of Development Research, 2019, vol. 31, issue 1, No 7, 95-117

Abstract: Abstract Markets are critical in connecting small towns with agricultural activities in their rural hinterland. This paper presents data from north-eastern Ghana on grain marketing and trade flows, combined with data on expansion of built and transport infrastructure in five linked towns of a periodic market system. Rurally sourced goods flow through historically established small-town and regional markets to national and international markets. Simultaneously, infrastructure and service provision develops in those small towns. These trends are linked by recursive, reinforcing processes of increasing consumption, agricultural commercialisation and economic diversification. Historical structures, such as periodic markets, and the nature of the commodities involved are central to this linkage and interact with policy: the commodities concerned have been promoted in northern Ghana in preceding decades, and contribute to small-town market development by integrating smoothly into existing local systems. Historical continuity is therefore central to the role that small towns play in rural–urban transformation.

Keywords: Agricultural market; Northern Ghana; Small town; Periodic markets; Territorial approach (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1057/s41287-018-0171-2

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