TY - JOUR
T1 - When a Good Business Model is Not Enough
T2 - Land Transactions and Gendered Livelihood Prospects in Rural Ghana
AU - Tsikata, Dzodzi
AU - Yaro, Joseph Awetori
PY - 2014/1
Y1 - 2014/1
N2 - Recent large-scale commercial agriculture projects in developing countries have raised concerns about the effects on natural resource-based livelihood activities of local people. A significant weakness in the emerging literature is the lack of a gender perspective on implications for agrarian livelihoods. This article explores the gendered aspects of land transactions on livelihood prospects in the Northern Region of Ghana. Drawing on qualitative research from two commercial agriculture projects, the article examines how pre-existing gender inequalities in agrarian production systems, as well as gender biases in project design, are implicated in post-project livelihood activities. The article concludes that a good business model of a land deal, even one that includes local communities in production and profit sharing, is not sufficient to protect women's livelihood prospects if projects ignore pre-existing gender inequalities and biases, which limit access to opportunities.
AB - Recent large-scale commercial agriculture projects in developing countries have raised concerns about the effects on natural resource-based livelihood activities of local people. A significant weakness in the emerging literature is the lack of a gender perspective on implications for agrarian livelihoods. This article explores the gendered aspects of land transactions on livelihood prospects in the Northern Region of Ghana. Drawing on qualitative research from two commercial agriculture projects, the article examines how pre-existing gender inequalities in agrarian production systems, as well as gender biases in project design, are implicated in post-project livelihood activities. The article concludes that a good business model of a land deal, even one that includes local communities in production and profit sharing, is not sufficient to protect women's livelihood prospects if projects ignore pre-existing gender inequalities and biases, which limit access to opportunities.
KW - Business model
KW - commercial agriculture
KW - commons
KW - gender
KW - land tenure
KW - livelihoods
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84896626429&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13545701.2013.866261
DO - 10.1080/13545701.2013.866261
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84896626429
SN - 1354-5701
VL - 20
SP - 202
EP - 226
JO - Feminist Economics
JF - Feminist Economics
IS - 1
ER -