Outgrower schemes and value chains: Gendered employment in the blue skies agriculture model
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Date
2015-04-17
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University of Ghana
Abstract
Current debates on agriculture investments in Africa have shifted a
little from the Malthusian and Boserupian schools of thought to model
interrogation. But, these contemporary narratives also do little
linkage between the value chain systems and its livelihood impacts for
men and women. Drawing on qualitative interviews, the study
explores the gendered segmentation and segregation of work in
Ghana's largest fruit processing company, Blue Skies and its
outgrower farms. The study found that whilst a significant number of
outgrowers were men, the absence of women in the outgrower
scheme is compensated for by their dominant presence on the farms
and the factory. The study concludes that though the business model
practised by Blue Skies is a good one, two significant caveats exist:
casualization of labour and the sheer absence of women in the
outgrower scheme which have gendered implications for livelihood
outcomes and security.
Description
School of social sciences colloquium
Keywords
Blue Skies, Outgrower scheme, Ghana, Value Chain Systems, livelihoods