Gender and Access to Agricultural Resources in the Sudan and Guinea Savannah Ecological Zones in Ghana

Abstract

Access to agricultural resources is a major issue in the development discourse. Despite the significant roles both men and women play in agriculture in many developing countries, they continue to have differential access to agricultural resources. This research therefore, studied the relationship between gender and access to agricultural resources in the Sudan and Guinea savannah ecological zones in Ghana. Primary data were gathered using questionnaires administrated to a sample of 200 farmers disaggregated into males and females. In order to ensure better representation random sampling was adopted in the study. A district each was selected using randomization from each ecological zone resulting in picking Nadowli and West Gonja Districts as the study area. The study found out that both men and women have more access to labour, improved seeds, fertilizer, insecticides, herbicides, credit, agricultural information through radio, television and Agricultural Extension Agents in the Sudan than in the Guinea savannah zone. Also the men in the 2 zones have more access to family land followed by skin land. However, a wide disparity exists in access to skin land in the Guinea Savannah ecological zone as 28% of males as compared to 3% of females have access to skin land. Also men have more access to labour, improved seeds, fertilizer, insecticides, agricultural information through television and agricultural extension agents. Women on the other hand have more access to herbicides, credit and agricultural information through radio. There was equal accessibility in terms of breeding stocks and low accessibility in access to agricultural information through mobile phone and input suppliers. There is a relationship between gender and access to labour for farming and agricultural information. In addition farmers faced challenges such as high cost of inputs, labour, transportation, land insecurity, mortality, and morbidity of breeding stocks and poor or lack of access to credit. The study recommends that the wide disparity in access to skin land by both sexes should be addressed through land and legal reforms.