Analyzing and Designing Business Processes in the Ghana Cocoa Supply Chain for Supporting Inclusiveness

Emmanuel Ahoa, Ayalew Kassahun, Bedir Tekinerdogan and Cor Verdouw
Additional contact information
Emmanuel Ahoa: Mprise Agriware Mprise B.V., Newtonstraat 2, 3902 HP Veenendaal, The Netherlands
Ayalew Kassahun: Information Technology Group, Wageningen University and Research, P.O. Box 9101, 6700 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands
Bedir Tekinerdogan: Information Technology Group, Wageningen University and Research, P.O. Box 9101, 6700 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands
Cor Verdouw: Mprise Agriware Mprise B.V., Newtonstraat 2, 3902 HP Veenendaal, The Netherlands

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 22, 1-29

Abstract: Ghana produces 20% of global cocoa output and is the second-largest producer and exporter of cocoa beans in the world. The Ghana cocoa industry is, however, challenged by a lack of adequate decision support systems across the supply chain. Particularly, cocoa farmers have limited access to information, which impedes planning, pricing, benchmarking, and quality management. In order to address this asymmetric access to information and ensure fair access to information that will allow the making of informed decisions, the supply chain stakeholders need to adapt their business processes. For identifying the requirements for better information flow, we identified the existing (as-is) processes through a systematic survey study in Ghana. We then identified the main problems and bottlenecks, designed new (to-be) business processes, and showed how IT systems support and enable inclusive business models in the Ghana cocoa industry. To enable inclusiveness, we incorporated IT solutions that improve information flows towards cocoa farmers. The results show that there are many opportunities (e.g., improving farmer livelihoods and a potential increase in export earnings) in the cocoa sector for Ghana and all stakeholders that can be utilized when there is chain-wide collaboration, equitable access to services, and proper use of IT systems.

Keywords: supply chain management; sustainability; developing countries; transparency; decision support system; IT systems; data sharing; process modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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