Women and Small-scale Farming in Ghana

Women and Small-scale Farming in Ghana PDF

Author: Maria Carla Roncoli

Publisher:

Published: 1985

Total Pages: 50

ISBN-13:

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This paper starts from the perspective of the international debate on Women in Development of the Seventies and focuses on a specific instance of this issue, that is, the implications of rural development for women in Ghana. The author examines the position of women in traditional societies with regard to their access to the means of productions and the changes brought about by the commoditization of the economy and the incorporation of such groups in the national society. The analysis points out that the process of "development" has negatively influenced women's opportunities for economic improvement and self-determination, and terminates with a recent example of the impact of planned "development" on women as small-scale farmers. This example is the MIDAS Project, implemented by USAID in Ghana between 1976 and 1981 for the development of small-scale agriculture, with particular emphasis on credit, fertilizer, improved seeds, small-farm system research, marketing and extension service.

What does empowerment mean to women in northern Ghana? Insights from research around a small-scale irrigation intervention

What does empowerment mean to women in northern Ghana? Insights from research around a small-scale irrigation intervention PDF

Author: Bryan, Elizabeth

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2020-02-04

Total Pages: 51

ISBN-13:

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Women’s empowerment is important to improve the status of women and achieve greater gender equity. It is also an important vehicle for achieving other development goals related to food security, nutrition, health, and economic growth. Increasingly, researchers seek ways to measure women’s empowerment, trace the pathways through which women’s empowerment is achieved, and provide guidance for policymakers and practitioners aiming to facilitate women’s empowerment through their interventions. This paper explores local perceptions of empowerment in the Upper East Region of Ghana in the context of a small-scale irrigation intervention targeted to men and women farmers. Using data collected through qualitative interviews and focus groups, the paper traces the linkages between small-scale irrigation and aspects of women’s empowerment, identified as important to men and women farmers themselves. The relationship between the components of empowerment and small-scale irrigation are placed within a larger context of social change underlying these relationships. Finally, this paper explores the ways that the introduction of modern technologies for small-scale irrigation may contribute to women’s empowerment.

Women and small-scale irrigation: A review of the factors influencing gendered patterns of participation and benefits

Women and small-scale irrigation: A review of the factors influencing gendered patterns of participation and benefits PDF

Author: Bryan, Elizabeth

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published:

Total Pages: 48

ISBN-13:

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Small-scale irrigation is expanding rapidly in parts of the world, especially sub-Saharan Africa, offering smallholder farmers an opportunity to improve their livelihoods, diets, and resilience to climate change among other benefits. Growing research focuses on the potential for small-scale irrigation to offer a pathway for women’s empowerment, yet the factors conditioning the relationship between small-scale irrigation and women’s empowerment are not well understood. The evidence tends to be scattered across context-specific case studies that focus on targeted outcomes, without distinguishing between technology types, scales, or approaches to irrigation systems or technologies. This paper synthesizes the issues related to gender and small-scale irrigation using a conceptual framework that highlights the linkages between elements of women’s empowerment and small-scale irrigation. Because gendered dynamics with small-scale irrigation play out differently depending on the scale of irrigation and the technologies used, this paper applies the framework to examine case studies across a typology of small-scale irrigation systems. The case studies cover a range of farming and livelihood systems in which women’s roles and gender relations vary, highlighting the importance of the opportunity structure or context in which irrigation takes place. This paper then draws lessons on the various ways in which small-scale irrigation, gender relations, and women’s empowerment interact and highlights areas where research gaps remain.

Gender Aspects of Small-scale Private Irrigation in Africa

Gender Aspects of Small-scale Private Irrigation in Africa PDF

Author: Barbara van Koppen

Publisher: IWMI

Published: 2013-03-06

Total Pages: 28

ISBN-13: 9290907673

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This Working Paper presents methodological and substantive findings of gender-differentiated quantitative farm household surveys about smallholder’s private irrigation technology adoption in Ghana and Zambia. Focusing on three gender variables, household headship, labor provision and plot management, the paper examines adoption rates, types of technologies and gendered labor provision in female- and male-headed households; compares adoption rates on women’s own plots with overall rates; compares women’s decision-making on irrigated plots and rainfed plots; and examines impacts of targeting strategies. Findings suggest that women are proactive irrigation adopters in spite of the many obstacles they face. Removing those obstacles serves both gender equality and irrigation policies.

Agriculture, Diversification, and Gender in Rural Africa

Agriculture, Diversification, and Gender in Rural Africa PDF

Author: Agnes Andersson Djurfeldt

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 0198799284

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This book contributes to the understanding of smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa through addressing the dynamics of intensification and diversification within and outside agriculture in contexts where women have much poorer access to agrarian resources than men.

Involving women and youth in responsible investment in agriculture and food systems in Ghana

Involving women and youth in responsible investment in agriculture and food systems in Ghana PDF

Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2021-10-27

Total Pages: 124

ISBN-13: 925134972X

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Women and youth-led agri-enterprises (WYE) (which may also be operating as family businesses) in agricultural value chains have been identified as catalysts for rural transformation given their potential for creating employment and stimulating value addition both on and off-farm. Given that agriculture and food systems are likely to remain the key generators of employment in Ghana over the coming decades, and that 80% of all activities in the midstream of food value chain are undertaken by SMEs in Africa. It is very much necessary to generate the evidence to support the argument that family, women and youth-led agribusinesses have a key role to play in the rural transformation pathway underway in Ghana.

Women Farmers and Commercial Ventures

Women Farmers and Commercial Ventures PDF

Author: Anita Spring

Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 444

ISBN-13: 9781555878696

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In this volume, case studies reveal that farm women in Africa, Asia and Latin America are rapidly becoming more than subsistence producers. It explores the societal and domestic changes brought about as women move to positions as wage labourers, contract growers and farm owners.