Social ties and farmers’ market access in Ghana: Structural Characteristics, Sociocultural Motives and Consequences of Social Capital-Facilitated Exchanges in a Subsistence Marketplace
type: CreativeWork
description: This study explores how social ties influence farmers’ market access in the subsistence marketplace within the Sub-Saharan African regions. With the compelling evidence that smallholder farmers operate under dismal market access and the ongoing global action plan from the United Nations Decade of Family Farming 2019-2028 campaign to create a supportive policy environment to strengthen the viability of small-scale farmers, exploring the mechanisms underlying support networks in the agri-market is more important than ever. While value chain theories are frequently consulted to gain insights into the mechanisms underlying networks for farmers’ market access, their analytical focus fails to address the micro-foundations of networks. Social capital research has established that donors’ motivation in market exchanges is complex, and thus, the underlying processes deserve analysis. Moreover, viewing support networks as a chain of actors fails to capture actors and entities outside the chain linkages. Hence, there is a need to shift the analytical thinking from viewing networks as a chain of actors to constellations where the farmer is recognised as a viable entity occupying a central position in a constellation of service exchanges. Using Portes’ (1998) dual-edged view of social capital, a qualitative-interpretivist research methodology (Verver and Koning, 2018) and the Gioia thematic analysis method, findings from actors in the Ghanaian agri-market suggest that the influence of social ties on farmers’ market access depends on the socio-cultural source that motivates actors in the agri-market to make resources available for farmers. The study further finds that the exchange culture could produce positive and negative consequences for farmers’ market access. The study contributes to three interconnected literature streams: the strength of ties argument, the sources of motivation for social capital and emerging scholarship on the subsistence marketplace. Firstly, the study b…
abstract: This study explores how social ties influence farmers’ market access in the subsistence marketplace within the Sub-Saharan African regions. With the compelling evidence that smallholder farmers operate under dismal market access and the ongoing global action plan from the United Nations Decade of Family Farming 2019-2028 campaign to create a supportive policy environment to strengthen the viability of small-scale farmers, exploring the mechanisms underlying support networks in the agri-market is more important than ever. While value chain theories are frequently consulted to gain insights into the mechanisms underlying networks for farmers’ market access, their analytical focus fails to address the micro-foundations of networks. Social capital research has established that donors’ motivation in market exchanges is complex, and thus, the underlying processes deserve analysis. Moreover, viewing support networks as a chain of actors fails to capture actors and entities outside the chain linkages. Hence, there is a need to shift the analytical thinking from viewing networks as a chain of actors to constellations where the farmer is recognised as a viable entity occupying a central position in a constellation of service exchanges. Using Portes’ (1998) dual-edged view of social capital, a qualitative-interpretivist research methodology (Verver and Koning, 2018) and the Gioia thematic analysis method, findings from actors in the Ghanaian agri-market suggest that the influence of social ties on farmers’ market access depends on the socio-cultural source that motivates actors in the agri-market to make resources available for farmers. The study further finds that the exchange culture could produce positive and negative consequences for farmers’ market access. The study contributes to three interconnected literature streams: the strength of ties argument, the sources of motivation for social capital and emerging scholarship on the subsistence marketplace. Firstly, the study b…
author: Bannor, Bernard Frimpong
license: https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/bitstreams/851cac2a-dd75-45db-a4ff-46fc49b97777/download
date published: 2024-08
date modified: 2026-07-24T06:18:24Z
provider: De Montfort University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: De Montfort University