Market Information and Buyer Access for Women in Ghana's Shea Value Chain

Rural women shea pickers in Northern Ghana face persistent income losses through information asymmetries and limited market access. Village-level middlemen dominate purchasing, offering prices substantially below market rates while women lack knowledge of true prices or connections to alternative buyers. This market structure perpetuates poverty among women in Ghana's informal agricultural sector.

This travel grant assesses feasibility of a randomized evaluation testing whether market information and direct buyer access improve women's shea incomes. The proposed 2x2 factorial design tests four conditions: mobile-based market information delivering weekly price updates, facilitated connections to buyers beyond village level with aggregation support, both interventions combined, and control. This design isolates information and access effects independently while testing whether they operate synergistically.

Activities include partnership development with IPA Ghana, shea value chain mapping through visits to Ministry of Food and Agriculture district offices, and key informant interviews with women pickers, buyers, and aggregators. As a Ghanaian researcher fluent in Dagbani, Gonja, and Hausa, I bring direct community access and local credibility.

Primary outcomes include price per kilogram received, total shea income, and quantity sold. If effective, the model scales across Ghana's shea belt and informs similar interventions across West African agricultural value chains.