Coconut exports from Southwestern Ghana: Implications for coconut farmers’ economic well-being

Coconut cultivation provides income that enhances farmers’ standard of living. This article examines the effect of coconut exports on the economic well-being of coconut farmers in Ghana. Through simple random sampling, 304 farmers were selected for the study. An interview schedule was used to collect quantitative data, while a semi-structured interview guide was used to collect qualitative data. IBM SPSS (version 25) was used to analyse quantitative data, while thematic analysis was used for qualitative data. About 67% of the farmers indicated that coconut exports increased their income. Higher proportions of the farmers rated their economic well-being as high (36.2%), very high (26.6%), and average (25%) as a result of coconut exports. Thus, coconut exports benefited the majority of the farmers economically. However, there were significant variations in their levels of economic well-being in relation to their education level, monthly income, size of farm, quantity of coconuts harvested per month, and the quantity supplied to the exporters. Few farmers (27.3%) indicated that coconut exports caused their incomes to decrease because the high price offered by exporters led to widespread coconut theft. In order to fully leverage the economic benefits of coconut exports, the agricultural department of the municipality should organise coconut farmers to form co-operatives through which security guards could be employed on farms to prevent theft of their produce.