Bridging the gender gap in the agriculture sector – A multi-stakeholder approach needed 

There are significant gender gaps in women’s and men’s access to rural advisory services in the agriculture sector, impeding development. While women farmers constitute about half the population engaged in the production of food crops for food security and nutrition, they are often discriminated against in the offer of advisory services, access to land, tractor services and finance. 

Despite efforts to mainstream gender in the agriculture sector, challenges including insufficient financial support from the government, inadequate ICT infrastructure to enhance communication, weak ministerial coordination on gender issues, weak stakeholder coordination on gender and gender-related issues in agriculture, and inadequate accommodation for Agriculture Extension Assistants at their operational areas continue to hinder rural advisory service delivery. 

The women also lack access to training, economic resources, and the capacity to invest in appropriate agricultural technologies as well as the knowledge to implement improved agricultural practices.  

Some of these challenges are deeply entrenched in cultural norms, where women are basically denied access because it is not fashionable or acceptable to do so within the community’s beliefs and settings.  

In predominantly patriarchal societies like Ghana, there is a marked bias against women’s ownership and control of land as a productive resource. In most situations, women’s access to land and other property generally occurs through a male relative. 

These stereotypes have permeated the offer of advisory services to women farmers and created gaps that continue to widen with time. 

It is estimated that the discrimination has contributed to the gender gap in agricultural productivity in developing countries, where women-managed farms are 20-30 per cent less productive than farms managed by men. 

In Ghana, the situation is not different as studies have shown significant gaps in access to credit and financial services, access to extension services delivery, access to new technologies in agriculture, and access to and control over land. 

“Gender inequality in our sub-region has led to widespread discrimination, social injustice, less economic progress and inefficient democracies”, the Chief Director Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr. Afisah Zakariah noted. 

These manifest in all aspects of human life including economic, security, education, health, social and political structures with women, girls and the vulnerable in society mostly affected by its consequences. 

Despite several government efforts to improve the agriculture sector, women farmers and crop producers in Ghana continue to face multiple challenges and disadvantages particularly those in the rural areas.  

Studies by Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) on PlantwisePlus programme in Ghana have also established the differences in men’s and women’s access to agricultural advisory services. 

For instance, it was established that there is over-reliance on male extension officers to contact farmers due to the lower number of women Extension Agents (16.7%) and high attrition rate.  

At the second meeting of the CABI PlantwisePlus Multi-stakeholder Forum for Dialogue on Gender in Rural in Rural Advisory Services (GRAS) held recently at Peduase, the Director of Women in Agricultural Development Directorate (WIAD), noted the achievements of the Exclusive Women Extensionists Programme in the past and said it supported women in agriculture with targeted programmes from production through post-production and off-farm activities.  

She touted the programme as a perfect policy intervention. 

Women were reached through home visits and were very comfortable with their women counterparts at very conducive times and cases of severe malnutrition were unearthed and the needed support provided. Their efforts complemented very well that of the male Extensionists. 

However, policy reforms and structural changes have ensured that there is now one Extension Agent, male or female who is to provide all the needed information to farmers, which is usually skewed towards crop production and men benefitting more than the women. 

This has made the attainment of the conservative 30% coverage for women difficult and the national target of 40% as stipulated in the Gender Policy. 

While WIAD has implemented the Gender and Agricultural Development Strategy (GADS II) and the needed sensitization done across all levels, national, regional and district, the key challenges facing women such as access to various production resources, especially land are yet to be overcome. 

The Director of Extension at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Mr. Paul Siameh said several agricultural sector policies over the past three decades had prioritised the role of women in agriculture development in Ghana, seeking to involve women in everything they do, especially through the reporting systems. 

He assured stakeholders that MoFA would not accept any programmes, which were not women and youth disaggregated because women had been marginalized for many years, and there was an urgent need to utilise their full human resource capabilities.  

He concluded his remarks with an assurance that women would not be left out of any agriculture development agenda. 

Some efforts at bridging the gap 

The government and stakeholders are not resting on their oars in bridging the gap and ensuring gender streaming in agriculture. 

Women in Agriculture Department (WIAD) for instance has chalked some successes in implementing GADS II, including database of women farmer-based organizations and entrepreneurs captured, 55 women FBOs supported with equipment for processing, 182 women trained in tractor operation and maintenance.   

 These have resulted in success stories such as women occupying executive positions in their FBOs. However, the late release of funds to implement planned activities and the poor road network which makes it difficult for officers to reach some remote areas to carry out activities continue to hinder women in agriculture. WIAD will continue to ensure that MOFA directorates’ activities are gender sensitive.   

Provision of sufficient budget allocation for gender issues, strengthening coordination between ministries and stakeholders (NGOs) on gender, provision of adequate residential accommodation for AEAs special females at their operational areas, and sufficient logistics for AEAs (vehicles and Motorcycle) to enhance mobility and visibility are outlined as strategies to address these constraints.   

The Directorate of Agricultural Extension Services (DAES) is also implementing several policies to increase agricultural productivity, which include the Food and Agriculture Sector Development Policy, Investing for Food and Jobs Policy (2018-2021), Gender and Agricultural Development Strategy (GADS I & II 2015), Agriculture Extension Services Policy, and E-Agriculture Policy and Strategy, among others. 

Cross-cutting issues, including climate change and environment, gender, vulnerability, culture and technological innovations, among others, are also being examined.   

However, there were challenges of the research inability of women to use some of the farm machinery, and limited capacity for demand-driven, food consumption and agricultural policy research and gender analysis in Ghana.   

Efforts are also being made at the regional levels to enhance equity through the implementation of Gender in Agricultural Development Strategy 2 (GADSII). For instance, the Bono region monitored several output indicators on a quarterly basis, based on the following strategic outcomes; household dietary diversity, food handling and safety, improved value addition, gender equity mainstreaming and empowerment, and other generic indicators such as home gardens and fuel-efficient stoves. Going forward, the region will strengthen the institutional capacity for gender-responsive policies, programmes, and projects, and there will be a conscious effort to ensure gender mainstreaming.   

Similar programmes are ongoing in the KEEA to address gender disparities in the agricultural sector, as a result, set targets to promote women’s participation and empowerment.   

To achieve this, agricultural officers embark on several gender-mainstreamed Agricultural Extension Services. Despite the progress made, women farmers in the municipality face numerous challenges, including limited access to land, credit, and agricultural inputs. To address these challenges, there is a need to initiate more targeted and tailored programmes that address the specific needs and challenges faced by women.   

Also, phase 2 of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ2) was being developed, targeting at least 40% of the beneficiaries to be youth, women, and vulnerable groups.  In Conclusion, the agriculture sector in Ghana requires a multi-stakeholder and multi-level approach involving government institutions, civil society organizations, development partners, and active participation of women.  

A key turning point is the GRAS Multi-stakeholder Forum for Dialogue and Advocacy initiated and facilitated by the CABI PlantwisePlus programme in Ghana. As one of the major components of the PlantwisePlus programme, CABI seeks to enhance the knowledge and uptake of climate-adaptive and integrated pest management crop production approaches in ways that ensure that both men and women farmers can equitably access and benefit from agricultural advisory services.  

Under the farmer advisory services component of the programme, several activities are being implemented to address identified gender gaps in agricultural advisory services delivery. 

The activities include gender capacity-building training for agricultural extension staff, advocacy and communication activities for improved gender policy implementation and institutional practices of advisory service delivery, and social and behavioural change communication activities to shift social norms preventing women’s equitable access to extension these services.  

Indeed, achieving gender equality targets in Ghana’s agriculture sector will require a multi-stakeholder approach involving government institutions, civil society organisations, development partners, and the active participation of women themselves. 

In conclusion, the GRAS Forum recommended that there should be a deep collaboration between CABI, WIAD, DAES, and other institutions on gender and agriculture to strengthen the institutional capacity for gender-responsive policies, programmes, and projects. Also, there should be a conscious effort to ensure gender mainstreaming in agriculture extension and rural advisory services. 

 By Christian Akorlie 

Source: GNA