Challenges and mitigating measures in local fruits retail in Southern Ghana

This study investigates challenges and mitigation strategies fruit retailers adopt, using survey data from southern Ghana. It highlights the control and mitigation measures the fruit sellers use to manage challenges through consultations with each other. We used Propensity Score Matching to analyze the impacts of consultation among the retailers on the challenges they face by using some control and mitigation measures. The results show that consultation among the retailers, and using the control and mitigation measures, generally exerts positive beneficial effects on the challenges they encounter in fruit retail. Using the control and mitigation measures in consultation with each other to combat their challenges is better than operating as individual retailers in the fruit retail market. We recommend relevant consultation mechanisms among the retailers to enhance collective decisions in combating their challenges rather than individual operations in the fruit retail marketing space. Thus, the challenges in fresh fruit retail should be managed using the control and mitigation measures in an integrated manner to harness the benefits of fruit retailing and to safeguard fruit retail against losses. Besides, the policy framework governing consultations in the country's local fruit retail market should be geared towards assisting traders in collectively investing in alternative mitigation measures to make fruit retail beneficial and sustainable.