Project Details
GENDER NEEDS ANALYSIS ON TREE CROPS
Farmers’ Economic Advancement through Seedlings (FEATs) project implemented by the MEDA and funded by Global Affairs Canada commissioned this study. The goal of the project was to help female and male farmers and their enterprises increase their profitability and productivity. The project was implemented in Northern, Central and Coastal regions of Ghana and hoped to facilitate and distribute 21 million tree seedlings over a six (6) year period. Since the project intended to support the wellbeing of farmers, it commissioned a study into the roles of women and men in the tree crop value chain, specifically Cocoa, Cashew, Rubber, and Shea.
Equal opportunity for women and men is a fundamental human right and an absolute precondition for sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction. Although both women and men among the tree crop areas seem to have gender equality in their farming businesses, there exists inequalities that results from significant differences in livelihood opportunities and outcomes.
The differences in opportunities emanate from differing roles and responsibilities between women and men as prescribed by existing cultural norms, values and prevailing power structures. These include differences in access to decision making processes, health, education, agricultural production and food security, land, credit and services such as agriculture extension and technology, as well as the uneven division of household labour.
Cocoa, Shea, Rubber and Cashew farming are profitable businesses and have improved the lives of many of its growers. MEDA/FEAT assigned ten focus group discussions which were held in the Central, Eastern, Brong Ahafo, Western and Northern regions for such tree crops. The study revealed that women had a growing interest in farming and managed to spend averagely five hours of the day at the farms without neglecting their house hold duties which occupied the greater part of the day. Averagely, women woke up about 4.30 am and moved to bed between 9.30 and 10pm. Apart from household work and farm work, women also engaged in other activities including petty trading, soap making and other handicrafts. On the other hand, the men spent only one third of their time in household activities which includes social activities such funerals, religious meetings and other social commitments.
Discussions revealed that most of the household have pipes borne and people did not have to travel for long miles to access to water and health except in Akuffu community. The extinction of vegetation is however a matter of concern in the Northern as well as the Volta region where the pretest was carried out. This has resulted in the women having to travel for long hours to get firewood which comes in handy in the cashew, cocoa and rubber growing regions.
Agency within the household revealed that generally, both men and women take decisions with regards to their households even though it was undisputable that the men had the final say. Findings confirmed women would take decisions differently on how money was spent if given the opportunity to do so. In all case, women were regular contributors to the payment of school fees, hiring of labourers, clothing, daily food items and maintenance of the garden. Generally men supported in catering for healthcare needs and are responsible for inputs for the farms, own land and houses even though some women give support.
Averagely, the female-headed households formed about one-quarter of the whole population. A number of factors called for this including the early demise of men, greater numerical strength of women and divorce. The early demise of men was attributed to their lifestyles and the fact that in some cases, very young girls were forced to marry older people, very typical of the Northern region.
The productive roles of both men and women were clearly spelt out in the various tree crop value chains. On a typical cocoa farm, burning, planting, weeding, pruning, spraying and plucking of the cocoa from the tree were activities done by the men while the women cut open the beans out of the pods, dried them and made them ready for sale. However, some women, especially the singles hired labour to do such jobs but some would also do what their abilities can allow when they do not have money for hired labour.
Shea picking and processing was however done solely by the women in Tamale because it was considered to be work for the women, not for men. Women would not want to grow shea tree because even if they grew it the men would take over and they would still remain shea pickers and processors.
Rubber farming has more shared roles where men do the burning, dig holes, transport stumps from the Centre and replant them, do line and pegging, tapping, slashing and felling of rubber trees. The women on the other hand grew other crops in between the rubber plants to increase the fertility of the soil and to provide staple food for the home, fetch water, cook for hired labourers, do spraying in some cases with smaller containers, slashing in a few cases and also transport harvested rubber to the GREL Centre. In Nkoranza, the roles of men in a typical cashew farm included creating of mounds, spraying, pruning and heavy weeding while the women predominantly harvested the cashew nuts.
Due to the difficult nature of farming, and the fact that women are discouraged from doing certain difficult jobs, hired labourers are an indispensable part of the process especially for the widows, divorced women and those who are not yet married. Women are discouraged from performing such very difficult tasks which include heavy weeding, pruning, spraying, digging holes and felling of trees which is commendable. On the other hand in the Northern region, women are mocked for processing or harvesting rice which is claimed to be work for the men.
Only a few of the farmers wanted their children to practice the farming themselves, even with that, it would be done alongside their white collar jobs. The farmers called for Educational scholarships in this regard and also Macro credit which could help them extend their farms for more profit so as to take care of their children in school.
Most of the women also have alternative livelihoods including petty trading, selling of cooked food and soap making. They also practice intercropping among their tree crops to sustain them while they wait for the tree crops to yield harvest, which is commendable. They however called for assistance to develop more alternative livelihoods including bee keeping among others. The farmers were happy about the proposed FEATS project and expressed their readiness to be beneficiaries of the project.
Lands are typically owned by the chiefs and the men but women also have access through inheritance. In the case of Agona Nkwanta, which is a rubber plantation area, the lands have been handed over to GREL so to own a land, one must apply. The situation was however different in the Cashew and Cocoa where lands which are owned by both women and men alike. Tamale also recorded a low rate of access to land for the women as the men are the sole owners of it.
Access to finance was however the cry of many of the farmers who sought to extend their farms in order to make more profits to cater for their needs and the education of their children. The banks charge high interest rates which discourages some from taking loans and in cases where they applied, there was lack of transparency. Insurance for farms was another source of concern and poses a great threat to their farms.
Women showed little or no interest in holding leadership positions in their Associations due to their high level of illiteracy , hence, low confidence levels as well as non- availability of time to attend meetings. The men however, have created two positions for women representatives within the ROAA (Rubber Outgrowers and Agents Association) which gives the women some room to operate. The meeting times do not seem to favour the women who even serve as leaders.
Women enjoyed relatively peace and travel freely in all of the visited communities by walking, taxis, motorbikes, tricycles etc. except for the Cocoa areas where they expressed a level of fear due to rumours of killing. In the Northern also, where riding of motorbikes were dominant, the women expressed fear over the habit of not using protective helmets which poses a great danger.
There was not much evidence of women receiving business skills such as book keeping to help in prudent management of their businesses and to determine their level of profitability, an implication for consideration in project design. .
As regards child labour there are laws within the Rubber and Cocoa industries which do not allow parents and guardians to use children at the expense of their education or assign them jobs that do not match their age however, few practice it but in fear. Children help in less stressful activities like fetching water for spraying and sometimes harvesting during weekends and when school is on break. The parents want their children to attain a high level of education so that they can become successful people like their members of Parliament and the Consultant in future.
The youth, not been interested in the farming was a matter of grave concern. The farming business has not been made attractive to the youth, long waiting years for return to investment, no ready markets for crops thus some will rather remain idle, engage in petty trading and thefts than go into farming which is a long term solution to poverty reduction and improved lifestyles. They however called for assistance to develop more alternative livelihoods. The farmers were happy about the proposed MEDA/ FEATS project and expressed their readiness to be beneficiaries of the project.
