Are Middlemen Exploiting Farmers — or Filling the Void Left by Policy Failures in Agriculture?

The middleman has long been both a necessity and a nuisance in Ghana‘s agricultural economy. He is the man who shows up when the harvest is ready, offers a price, sometimes fair, often not, loads the produce onto a truck, and drives off to sell it at a margin in the next town or city. 

For many farmers, this is the only moment money exchanges hands in a season’s worth of sweat and soil. And for many urban consumers, it is this same chain of events that causes market prices to fluctuate unpredictably, sometimes wildly, leaving households struggling to keep up with basic food costs.

While middlemen are often painted as the exploiters of Ghana’s agricultural system, their role is not without context. In the absence of strong rural infrastructure, efficient distribution networks, and market support systems, they have become the unappointed but dominant players in getting produce from farm to market. Their presence is a symptom of deeper systemic failure, particularly the inability of successive policies to empower farmers with the tools, protections, and access they need to thrive independently.

Data from market associations and agri-development groups point to a longstanding pattern: producers rarely get the full value of what they grow. The margin between farm-gate prices and final market prices remains wide, often without any real value addition along the way. In practical terms, this means the person who grows the food often earns the least, while those who move it, or control access to markets, earn the most.

The problem becomes particularly visible during bumper harvests. With limited storage options and no guaranteed off-take arrangements, farmers are forced to sell quickly or lose everything to spoilage. Middlemen seize this vulnerability, offering low prices that many farmers accept out of desperation rather than choice. The outcome is a lopsided trade that keeps farmers trapped in subsistence and keeps consumers paying more than necessary for basic food items.

Meanwhile, in the cities, consumers face a different kind of frustration. By the time food arrives in urban markets, it has been handled multiple times, with each link in the chain adding its own markup. Without transparency or regulation, food prices become volatile, driven not by seasonal patterns or real scarcity, but by the practices of those who control the chain.

Some argue that middlemen provide an essential service: liquidity, logistics, and access to markets. And in fairness, many do. But the issue lies in the absence of alternatives. In a competitive and transparent ecosystem, middlemen would have to offer better terms or risk being bypassed. Instead, they operate in a landscape where farmers have little leverage and even fewer choices.

Government policies, while acknowledging the importance of improving market access, have yet to translate into systems that shield farmers from these distortions. The promise of interventions has fallen short of its potential, leaving room for opportunistic practices to persist at scale.

Ultimately, the question is not whether middlemen should exist, but whether their dominance is a result of efficiency or exploitation. In Ghana’s current agricultural setup, it is clear that they occupy a space created by institutional neglect. 

Read More