Ghana: COVID-19 informed new credit relations amongst traders

Published 2021년 4월 11일

Tridge summary

The article highlights the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the political economy of Africa, with a focus on Ghana's food systems. Conducted in partnership with NETRIGHT, a research study reveals the far-reaching effects of the pandemic on various aspects of the food value chain, including the transportation of commodities, trade, and food systems. The lockdown and border closures led to a disruption in the supply of essential food items like onions and tomatoes, imported from Niger and Burkina Faso respectively. This disruption resulted in significant challenges for farmers and traders, such as reduced sales, increased debt, and significant financial losses. The research underscores the need for government and stakeholder support to help traders and food system actors manage the financial debts incurred during the pandemic. It also emphasizes the importance of adopting proactive measures to improve food preservation and stabilize market prices to mitigate the negative effects on food systems.

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Original content

Professor Akosua K. Darkwah, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, says the outbreak of the COVID-19 and related events have informed new credit relations amongst traders. She said the lockdown and its related restrictions in 2020 negatively affected farmers, transportion of commodities and food traders, undermining sales and prices. “This led to the review of credit payment terms between suppliers and traders,” she said. Prof Darkwah was speaking at a workshop in Accra, on ” The Impact of COVID-19 responses on the political economy of Africa food systems.” She said according to a research conducted in partnership with Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT), most traders could not access supply of commodities and buyers were not immediately available which slowed down sales and that players had to enter into new credit arrangements. The research probed the impact of COVID-19 on the Ghanaian food systems with focus on supply and production of onions, ...

Source: Ghanabusinessnews