Challenges faced by Ghanaian female peasants in accessing farm credit: a study in the Mion district

Agriculture, for many years, has been one of the major contributors to Ghana’s economic growth and because of this, all governments have tried to enact and implement policies to help boost Ghana’s agricultural growth. Women over the years have been an active part of the agricultural growth in the country, stemming from off-farm duties such as shelling, processing, and marketing, and now going into direct farming and even owning lands themselves. Using a qualitative research method, I assessed the various forms of funding for female farmers in the Mion district in the Northern region of Ghana where farming is dominant. I analyzed how these female farmers get funds to invest in their farming and how these sources of funding have affected them. I analyzed how formal vs. informal sources of credit are preferred, and the consequences this has on their farming activities and their livelihoods. I found that farmers with favorable loan terms, those with the family option, tend to experience the least negative consequences on failure to repay. The most common sources of credit are family (50%) and credit unions (26.7%). Private lenders (20%) and banks (3.3%).