Everyday life in Savelugu, Northern Ghana: groundnut, gender and livelihoods

For the past years, linking smallholder farmers to market and helping them to be in a sustainable group of production have gained development recognition through value chain interventions. To grab full understanding of value chain production dynamics, this study seeks to understand how gender relations in rural Ghana affect women’s participation and their ability to benefit from groundnut value chains. The study uses qualitative research methods to examine how actors relate to each other and what are their potentials and challenges. Specifically, it investigated how actors – especially women – are included or excluded from value chains, how productive resources are allocated, and how this allocation affects their livelihoods. Using theories around gender relations, the theory of access and the sustainable livelihood approach, the study focuses on the community of Diare and finds that the women’s access to landed property is unequal because women do not traditionally own lands in Northern Ghana. This lack of access to productive resources causes an entry barrier in the participation of value chain activities. Furthermore, the study shows that the burden of women’s reproductive work (‘housework’) also restricts their ability to fully take part in the process of production. This study recommends that, for gender equality to be achieved, government and development practitioners should acknowledge and enhance the contribution of women in development programmes in order to increase their employment generating potentials and their livelihoods.