Irrigation Farming for Women Empowerment and Poverty Reduction in the Tempane District

Abstract

Irrigation farming has become a vital strategy for addressing food insecurity, rural poverty, and gender inequality in sub-Saharan Africa. However, uncertainties persist regarding its capacity to promote women’s empowerment and transform livelihoods in contexts shaped by unequal land tenure systems and gendered agricultural governance. This study examines the impact of irrigation farming on women’s empowerment and poverty reduction in the Tempane District of Ghana. Drawing on the Gender and Development (GAD) framework, Empowerment Theory, and irrigation-specific models (Bryan & Garner, 2020; Meinzen-Dick et al., 2019), a pragmatic mixed methods case study design was adopted. Data were collected from 156 survey respondents, 46 in depth interviews, eight focus group discussions, and field observations. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS, while qualitative data were thematically coded with NVivo. The study found that irrigation farming in the Tempane District remains largely male-dominated. Women’s participation is visible yet constrained by limited access to key productive resources such as land, credit, and agricultural inputs. Gender norms and traditional tenure systems continue to shape participation, granting men greater control over irrigable land and decision-making processes. Although women actively engage in small-scale and household-level irrigation, their contributions are often undervalued and less supported institutionally. Participation in irrigation farming, however, significantly enhanced women’s empowerment (χ² = 21.1725, p < 0.001b, df = 2) and reducing poverty (χ² = 27.6247, p < 0.001, df = 2). Despite these benefits, constraints such as insecure land tenure, high labour demands, limited capital, restrictive cultural norms, and exclusion from governance structures continue to impede women’s full participation. The study concludes that irrigation farming has immense potential to advance women’s empowerment and reduce poverty in the Tempane District. However, realising this potential requires coherent, gender-sensitive reforms in land tenure, financial access, extension support, and irrigation governance. By embedding empirical findings within structured theoretical frameworks, this research contributes to the growing discourse on gender, irrigation, and inclusive rural development in northern Ghana.