Abstract:
The Cocoa sector contributes significantly to the economy of Ghana employing over a million people. The sector boasts of the sustenance of about six million people including marketing officers and purchasing clerks. Marketing officers and purchasing clerks constitute important individuals who act as agents of Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs). These licensed buying companies purchase cocoa bean from cocoa farmers through purchasing clerks and marketing officers to be sold to COCOBOD. Purchasing clerks and marketing officers have crucial roles to play since they serve as agents between LBCs and cocoa farmers. However, these agents face challenges such as inadequate logistics, low quality of cocoa beans and poor storage facilities which affect their livelihood.
The study employs the qualitative case study method. This method is essential to discover meanings that purchasing clerks and marketing officers ascribe to events they experience in the natural setting of the cocoa sector. The study investigates the challenges of purchasing clerks and marketing officers and how these challenges affect their livelihood. In doing so, the study locates meanings that these agents confer on the cocoa purchasing challenges and their impact on their livelihood.
The study identifies challenges of purchasing clerks and marketing officers to include inadequate logistics and low quality of cocoa beans purchased from farmers. The study mentions that additional challenges in the cocoa sector which undermine the roles of purchasing clerks and marketing officers and affect their livelihood include low margin payment to LBCs by COCOBOD and poor storage facilities to keep cocoa beans.
The study recommends that the government should increase the level of margins paid to LBCs. Besides, purchasing clerks and marketing officers must be equipped with the necessary logistics to facilitate their work. Also, the study recommends that social programs should be organized for smallholder cocoa farmers to educate them on right practices of cultivation and storage of cocoa beans.
