Sustainability in Agricultural Value Chains: Evidence from the Pineapple Sector in Ghana

The pineapple sector in Ghana plays an important role in the country’s economy, providing a livelihood for actors along the value chain. This study aims to understand the factors influencing the sustainability of the major actors along the pineapple value chain in Ghana, addressing the challenges such as changing market prices, environmental degradation, and socio-economic inequalities. The study surveyed 320 smallholder pineapple farmers, 66 processors, and 169 marketers from three districts in Ghana’s Central Region: Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese, Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem, and Ekumfi using snowball sampling. The sustainability levels among the actors were high, with average index scores of 0.62 for farmers, 0.82 for processors, and 0.69 for marketers. Key findings from the fractional logit model analysis revealed that socio-economic factors such as marital status (particularly married and divorced individuals), household size, age, education level, number of pineapple farms, occupation (e.g., civil servants), farming experience, and farm size play a critical role in driving sustainability among farmers in the pineapple value chain. For processors, sustainability was significantly influenced by the number of workers, age, education level (primary and tertiary), business ownership, and marital status. Among marketers, sustainability hinged on the source of pineapples, age, and type of education. The findings highlight the need for policymakers to target interventions that address these socio-economic factors to strengthen sustainability across the pineapple value chain.