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  • Title: Employment and labor supply on Ghana's cocoa farms in the pre- and post-aliens compliance order era.
    Author: Addo NO.
    Journal: Econ Bull Ghana; 1972; 2(4):33-50. PubMed ID: 12312557.
    Abstract:
    A survey was conducted throughout the 6 cocoa growing regions of Ghana between July and October 1970 in an effort to estimate the level of employment on the farms in the post-aliens compliance era, the extent of labor turnover on the farms as a direct result of the departure of the aliens, and to measure some of the financial and other costs to the farmers. Labor refers to permanent workers employed on the farm, i.e., caretakers and full time laborers. Casual laborers were not included, but they constitute an important group of workers in the rural areas, most of whom work on cocoa farms. Interviews were conducted among the farmers of the Cooperative Societies, 1 of the 2 main cocoa buying agencies in the country. From the distribution of the sample units, the total number of farmers involved in these societies was about 173,000. The sample of farmers interviewed was about 2.2%. The interview response rate was nearly 97%. Estimates based on the sample suggest that about 290,000 persons (217,000 Ghanaians and 72,000 aliens) were employed on the cocoa farms in respect of the Cooperative Societies throughout the regions at the time of the survey. In contrast, 308,000 (163,000 Ghanaians and 145,000 aliens) were employed just before the Compliance Order. About 84,000 alien employees left the farms during the interval. At the same time about 54,000 and 11,000 freshly recruited Ghanaians and aliens respectively moved in to replace the departed alien workers. Due to the fact that the sample refers to the Cooperative Societies only, the overall volume of alien exodus from the farms and rural areas as a whole was considerable. This situation is no suprise since the effect of the Compliance Order was rather immediate. The foreign residents without valid immigrant papers were given only 2 weeks within which to leave Ghana. The actual alien population involved in the exodus may be 3 or 4 times larger if members of their household are included. The overall situation suggests that foreign employed labor which prior to to Compliance Order represented 47% of total employment on the farms had declined in proportion by nearly half at the time of the survey. The average number of aliens employed per farmer declined simultaneously from 0.93 to 0.51 respectively within the same period. The turnover position varied considerably from region to region. The employment situation seems to vary according to the size of farms. Money wages of cocoa farm employees increased consistently over the past 15 years, due mainly to rising costs of living. The mass departure of aliens from the cocoa farms was sufficiently important to cause a substantial rise in the wages of farm workers, to the relative disadvantage of the farmers.
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