Investigating the determinants of Ghana’s agricultural exports performance: Focus on banana, coffee and rubber

Following recent decline for performance of Ghana in rubber exports, failure of the banana sub-sector to achieve competitiveness in exports in spite of the prospects reflected so far, and a generally weak performance reflected by the coffee sub-sector in its export dimension since 1986, the present study sourced identification of the magnitude and effects of relevant export drivers on the country’s performance in exports of the respective commodities. The primary goal of the study was to at the end of the day be able to inform policy prescriptions on measure needed for reviving exports in the rubber and coffee sub-sectors and efforts required for achieving competitiveness in the banana sub-sector. Output for the respective regressions estimated (using OLS) shows that the banana sub-sector is in a good position to achieve competitiveness, whiles performance of the rubber and coffee sub-sectors is hindered by prevailing inefficiencies and developmental constraints. To achieve competitiveness in banana exports however, measures should be put in place to increase production significantly, improve the country’s openness to trade, attract more export performance-enhancing foreign direct investments, and improve on the quality of banana exports. Reviving exports for the rubber and coffee sub-sectors on the other hand requires not only increasing production and improving the quality of exports, but also, appropriate identification and effective addressing of prevailing inefficiencies and developmental constraints in the respective sub-sectors.