Women and Small-scale Farming in Ghana

This paper starts from the perspective of the international debate on Women in Development of the Seventies and focuses on a specific instance of this issue, that is, the implications of rural development for women in Ghana. The author examines the position of women in traditional societies with regard to their access to the means of productions and the changes brought about by the commoditization of the economy and the incorporation of such groups in the national society. The analysis points out that the process of "development" has negatively influenced women's opportunities for economic improvement and self-determination, and terminates with a recent example of the impact of planned "development" on women as small-scale farmers. This example is the MIDAS Project, implemented by USAID in Ghana between 1976 and 1981 for the development of small-scale agriculture, with particular emphasis on credit, fertilizer, improved seeds, small-farm system research, marketing and extension service.