Gov’t  urged to take steps to stop discrimination against women farmers’ right to land


The Government of Ghana has been urged to take steps to stop the discrimination against women in land ownership and tenure. 

This can be done by guaranteeing equal rights to land for men and women irrespective of their status. The government should also implement policies and programmes to facilitate women access to land for agricultural purposes.

A Programme Officer of SEND-GHANA, Daniel Adotey Akai said this at the Greater Accra Regional Dialogue on Agriculture for women and smallholder farmers in Accra. 

He also advocated the establishment of a Women Enterprise Fund to provide reliable credit to female farmers.

Radio Ghana's Correspondents Dominic Hlordzi reports that Women farmers across the country continue to work under challenging circumstances. These undermine efforts at achieving, the targeted six percent Annual Agricultural Growth Rate and ensure food security.  

The Dialogue session organized by SEND-GHANA, a civil society in Agriculture, brought together women and smallholder farmers as well as officials from the Ministry of Agriculture in the region.

It was to draw government’s attention to the issues confronting smallholder farmers and advocate the implementation of result oriented solutions to the challenges.
 
Enumerating the difficulties, a Programme Officer at SEND-GHANA, Daniel Adotey Akai said women farmers are faced with limited access to land and credit facilities, unavailability of ready market for their produce, inadequate extension officers and the continues use of hoe and cutlass in the cultivation of their crops. These he pointed out do not promote effective farming.

“One of the most significant gender-based constraints that women farmers face is access to, ownership and control of agricultural land. On the average only 10 percent of Ghanaian women farmers own land compared to 23 percent of men. The average values of land holdings for women are three times lower than that of men.” Mr. Adotey Akai explained. He observed that Women smallholder farmers in Ghana seldom own the land they cultivate.
 
Throughout the country research by the Civil Society Coalition has revealed that women are less likely to possess land and in instances where they own it the lands are usually small in size limiting any large scale production.

The Programme officer said even though the Ministry of Agriculture is not directly responsible for the administration of land in the country, it has oversight responsibility over government lands earmarked for agricultural purposes. 

To this end efforts should be made to ensure that women farmers are not left out in the allocation of such government lands.

The Acting Greater Accra Regional Director of Agriculture Dr. Alice Attah gave the assurance that the Ministry will work with banks and other financial institutions for the provision of credit to the women farmers to help them expand their operations. 

She said the Ministry will also liaise with land owners and chiefs to make land available to women for farming purposes. 

Dr. Attah was however, worried about the taken over of farm lands by estate developers for housing purposes in the Greater Accra region explain that if care is not taken soon there will not be any large scale farming in the region.

SEND-GHANA’S Policy Brief on Women and Smallholder Agriculture in Ghana, 2014 which outlined six main recommendations in the sector formed the basis for the dialogue. Take a listen to the report.

GBC