Harvesting Hope: Empowering Women Farmers for Higher Healthy Food Production in Northern Ghana

In Ghana, access to key agricultural productive assets, such as seeds, fertilizers, water and land, is critical to agricultural productivity and food security, especially for women and youth. This disparity is particularly pronounced in some parts of Ghana, where traditional norms and cultural practices often restrict women’s access to agricultural inputs and tools, relegating them to secondary roles in agriculture despite their significant contributions to food production and household nutrition.

In Kassena-Nankana West District, Upper East Region, Northern Ghana,  access to agricultural productive assets is predominantly skewed towards men. This is driven by deep-rooted traditions and entrenched customs in which women depend on male relatives or husbands to farm. This dependency often limits their ability to autonomously make critical farming decisions or invest in improved agricultural inputs, such as seeds,  fertilisers, and agricultural tools.

Women farmers in Apibiisi Community transport their harvested maize from the field. ©️FAO/George Koranteng

Recognising this challenge, FAO initiated gender-sensitive interventions with the European Union and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. The project organised community sensitisation and engagement forums targeting beneficiary community members, traditional leaders, agricultural inputs suppliers, and decision-makers. These community engagements highlighted the economic and social benefits of granting women significantly more access to agricultural productive assets, emphasising how women's empowerment contributes to enhanced food security and nutrition, poverty alleviation and well-being for the entire community.

Community Transformation Through Access to Agricultural Inputs

Just a year ago, Millicent Atinsunga, a farmer from Apibiisi Community in the Kassena-Nankana West District, Upper East Region in Northern Ghana, could only aspire to have her own farmland. Like many women in her community, she spent years toiling in maize fields in Tumu, 77 miles away from home, to grow maize and generate income. Today, with a one-acre maize harvest attributed to her efforts, her journey exemplifies the transformative influence of access to land and other agricultural inputs, empowerment, and collaboration within the community.

Millicent holds a maize corn from her farm in Apibiisi Community, Northern Ghana. ©️FAO/George Koranteng

According to Patrick Atinsuga, her husband and a farmer, before the project interventions, women and some men from the Apibiisi community travelled miles to Tumu, a community in the Upper West Region of Northern Ghana, to work on people’s maize farms for grains and earn some income. This was because farmers, especially the women, did not have access to improved agricultural inputs, such as seeds, fertilisers and productive land.

The District Director of Agriculture, Mohammed Bukari, notes that the increased participation of women in farming and access to improved seeds and fertilisers have directly and significantly contributed to the community's overall food security and nutrition, reducing dependency on food aid and external humanitarian assistance.

The successful harvests made by the farmers in Kasena Nankana West District this year highlight the transformative impact of this intervention. Earlier, maize seeds, sorghum foundation seeds, millet foundation seeds, and Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium (NPK) and urea fertilizers, and poultry manure were distributed to over 10,000 smallholder farmers in these six targeted Northern Ghana’s districts to support the 2024 planting season.

In September 2023, the European Union launched a €10 million EU Food Security Response in Northern Ghana project, in partnership with FAO and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA). The project is dedicated to supporting over 10,000 smallholder farmers affected by the impacts of COVID-19, the conflict in Ukraine, and increasing climate variability. The support is provided to increase food production and build resilient agrifood systems in six food-insecure districts in Upper East Region (Kassena-Nankana West and Bongo Districts), Savannah Region (North Gonja, North-East Gonja and Central Gonja Districts) and North East Region (Bunkpurugu-Nakpanduri) in Northern Ghana. 

Safia Adams, a farmer in Kpalbe, North East Gonja District, shows excitement as she receives her hybrid maize seeds provided by the project. ©️FAO/George Koranteng