Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
694276 Sustainable Production and Consumption 2015 14 Pages PDF
Abstract

•Oil, service and industry threaten two million cocoa farmers’ livelihoods.•Additional 4.3 million secondary livelihoods are also threatened.•Land degradation, corruption and inflation reduce farmers’ income and assets.•Farmer land management (adaptive) strategies could remedy land degradation.•Reduction in corruption and inflation require international assistance.

The study aims at examining the sustainability of cocoa farmer livelihood. Emphasis was laid on investigation of factors that increase or derail the sustainability of cocoa farmer livelihood. Quantitative and qualitative data were sourced from relevant state institutions and 264 farmers drawn from 774. The results indicate that cocoa farmer livelihood provides larger secondary livelihoods for labour-sellers, petty traders and staff of cocoa marketing companies. The cocoa farmer livelihood is facing threats from the newly oil found, service and industry. The initial capital assets invested in cocoa farming were poor. The study concludes that farmers are made vulnerable by land degradation, corruption in the internal cocoa marketing and inflation. Consequently, incomes (savings) and capital assets are not able to increase as spelt out in the Sustainable Livelihood Framework analysis.

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Physical Sciences and Engineering Chemical Engineering Process Chemistry and Technology
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