By Anthony Apubeo, GNA
Paga (UE), Dec. 11 , GNA - The Chief and Elders of the Tampola community in the Kassena-Nankana Municipal of the Upper East Region, have pledged to fight against any member of their community who would deny a widow access to her late husband’s property particularly land.
Naba Mathew Kalerigire, the Chief of Tampola and some of the elders made the pledge during a stakeholder forum organized by the Tampola Young Generation Farmers’ Cooperative at Paga in the Kassena-Nankana West District, and promised that they would sensitize the community members especially husbands to release fertile lands to women for farming activities.
Women in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions are usually denied fertile lands and other family property such as livestock, especially after the death of their husbands.
It was against this background that the Tampola Young Generation Farmers’ Cooperative, a farmers group in the area undertook a research on Advocacy Action Project dubbed; “Equal Access to Land to improve Livelihoods of Women in the Kassena Area”, to be used as an advocacy tool to help advocate for the change of the negative trend.
The research was funded by the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) fund and its partners, DANIDA, USAID and the European Union.
The forum garnered stakeholders including traditional rulers, Tendamas (custodians of the land), smallholder women farmers, Assembly members and technocrats from the District Assembly.
The survey identified Chiefs, Landlords, the Land Administration Unit, Associations and Civil Society Organizations as some of the relevant stakeholders who could play various roles towards ensuring equal access to productive lands.
It recommended the need for the sensitization of traditional rulers and community elders to equip them with the knowledge on the national and international laws governing women access to lands.
“Majority of the Chiefs and landlords who are the traditional leaders and custodians of the land are not aware of treaties on equal access to land and as such are not able to implement these laws, which promote women equal access to productive resources especially land,” the research showed.
Mr Edward Weyera, the Assistant Consultant of the project, explained that the survey clearly identified gender inequality, especially women’s access to agriculture lands and other properties as an eminent problem in the Kassena-Nankana Municipal and that most families were ignoring it with some pretending it was normal.
Mr Vincent Subbey, the Monitor of BUSAC Fund, observed that one of the major factors affecting household incomes, food security and malnutrition was that women were often denied access to productive lands for farming.
“The women are not fighting for ownership and control of land. Traditionally in Northern Ghana we know that the men are in control of land and ownership. All what the women are asking for is for the men to release some fertile land for them to farm and this will help improve upon household incomes, food security and nutrition,” the BUSAC Monitor said.
Whilst commending the Chief of Tampola Community and his elders for making the pledge, he underscored the need for them to remain committed to their pledge and to work towards addressing the challenges confronting the smallholder women farmers.
“BUSAC Fund and its development partners want to see concrete results and actions and will therefore make follow-ups to ensure that you implement what you stated in your pledge,” he told the Chief and his elders.
GNA
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