The welfare impacts of buffer stock operations in agriculture in Ghana

This dissertation examines the impacts of buffer stock operations in Ghana, as a market intervention policy in a failing market environment to guarantee that market prices only move within a desired price band by publicly announcing floor and ceiling prices to control price movement. The dissertation aims to contribute insights into how public buffer stockholding operations, targeted at smallholder farmers in a developing world setting, impacts its actors, focusing on welfare. The dissertation contributes in four ways; first testing the efficacy of buffer stocks operations, second analysing the effect of output support on smallholder farmers income, thirdly develop a new measure to measure the impact of buffer stock intervention on food security by means of the nutrient- content household dietary diversity index, and finally, investigate the effect of buffer stocks on the well-being of smallholder farmers. The results demonstrates that buffer stocks operation is still a viable policy option for governments in developing countries to stabilize commodity prices. Beyond stabilizing commodity prices, buffer stock operations intervention improves household food and nutrition security and is a poverty reduction instrument for rural communities in low-income countries. Most importantly, buffer stock operations in agriculture improve the objective and subjective wellbeing of smallholder farmers.