Ghana's salt industry: A neglected sector for economic development?

The case of poverty in the abundance of plenty mostly extant in resource rich countries is also evident along the coast of Ghana. Despite the huge salt production potential of the country's coast, the renewable resource remains highly untapped as output levels are less than 10% of potential output. Meanwhile many of the indigenes of coastal communities wallow in poverty amidst high levels of unemployment. Findings of this study reveal that key obstacles inhibiting the growth of the sector relates to land acquisition, lack of investment, and low level of technology adoption. The study therefore recommends a mix of strategies aimed at rejuvenating the sector to achieve optimum harnessing of salt deposits. This would help diversify the export markets of Ghana and help her industrialization drive towards achieving an upper-middle income country status in the short-to-medium-term. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.