Exploring women and youth engagement in aquaculture: Mixed-methods evidence in Ghana

This paper identifies the challenges, aspirations, and entry points for greater participation and empowerment of youth and women in the fast-growing aquaculture value chain in Ghana. Data was collected from three survey rounds of 400 fish farmers; 32 key informants’ interviews; and 5 FGDs with femal...

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Main Authors: Ragasa, Catherine, Torbi, Eva, Kruijssen, Froukje, Amewu, Sena
Format: Ponencia
Language:Inglés
Published: International Food Policy Research Institute 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/137145
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author Ragasa, Catherine
Torbi, Eva
Kruijssen, Froukje
Amewu, Sena
author_browse Amewu, Sena
Kruijssen, Froukje
Ragasa, Catherine
Torbi, Eva
author_facet Ragasa, Catherine
Torbi, Eva
Kruijssen, Froukje
Amewu, Sena
author_sort Ragasa, Catherine
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description This paper identifies the challenges, aspirations, and entry points for greater participation and empowerment of youth and women in the fast-growing aquaculture value chain in Ghana. Data was collected from three survey rounds of 400 fish farmers; 32 key informants’ interviews; and 5 FGDs with female-only, femaleyouth-only, and male-youth-only groups. Four study highlights are as follows. First, the study shows that respondents all indicated they wanted to continue or start aquaculture and expand to other stages of the value chain (hatchery, feed formulation, processing). Second, this study shows how norms and attitudes differently impact women, who are often discouraged because of their gender; and young men, who are often teased with being a fisherman when studying aquaculture and who have less access to finance and skills development. Third, intersectionality allowed us to understand that aquaculture is easy for women to combine with reproductive work if the farm is located close to home, and seen as very tedious if it is isolated. Fourth, this study also sought to understand quality of participation. Qualitative interviews showed that income and financial security is just one of the factors that determines quality of participation in the aquaculture chain. Other important factors for those involved in aquaculture included social recognition by neighbours, the community, and beyond. For women specifically, being a grow-out farmer or processor allowed them to gain their own income and feel selfreliant while combining their work with childcare and housework.
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institution CGIAR Consortium
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spelling CGSpace1371452025-11-06T07:02:51Z Exploring women and youth engagement in aquaculture: Mixed-methods evidence in Ghana Ragasa, Catherine Torbi, Eva Kruijssen, Froukje Amewu, Sena gender agriculture research youth aquaculture This paper identifies the challenges, aspirations, and entry points for greater participation and empowerment of youth and women in the fast-growing aquaculture value chain in Ghana. Data was collected from three survey rounds of 400 fish farmers; 32 key informants’ interviews; and 5 FGDs with female-only, femaleyouth-only, and male-youth-only groups. Four study highlights are as follows. First, the study shows that respondents all indicated they wanted to continue or start aquaculture and expand to other stages of the value chain (hatchery, feed formulation, processing). Second, this study shows how norms and attitudes differently impact women, who are often discouraged because of their gender; and young men, who are often teased with being a fisherman when studying aquaculture and who have less access to finance and skills development. Third, intersectionality allowed us to understand that aquaculture is easy for women to combine with reproductive work if the farm is located close to home, and seen as very tedious if it is isolated. Fourth, this study also sought to understand quality of participation. Qualitative interviews showed that income and financial security is just one of the factors that determines quality of participation in the aquaculture chain. Other important factors for those involved in aquaculture included social recognition by neighbours, the community, and beyond. For women specifically, being a grow-out farmer or processor allowed them to gain their own income and feel selfreliant while combining their work with childcare and housework. 2023-10-12 2024-01-04T12:47:47Z 2024-01-04T12:47:47Z Presentation https://hdl.handle.net/10568/137145 en Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Ragasa, Catherine; Torbi, Eva; Kruijssen, Froukje; Amewu, Sena. 2023. Exploring women and youth engagement in aquaculture: Mixed-methods evidence in Ghana. Presentation. Presented at the CGIAR GENDER Conference 'From Research to Impact: Towards just and resilient agri-food systems', New Delhi, India, 9-12 October 2023. International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/137145
spellingShingle gender
agriculture
research
youth
aquaculture
Ragasa, Catherine
Torbi, Eva
Kruijssen, Froukje
Amewu, Sena
Exploring women and youth engagement in aquaculture: Mixed-methods evidence in Ghana
title Exploring women and youth engagement in aquaculture: Mixed-methods evidence in Ghana
title_full Exploring women and youth engagement in aquaculture: Mixed-methods evidence in Ghana
title_fullStr Exploring women and youth engagement in aquaculture: Mixed-methods evidence in Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Exploring women and youth engagement in aquaculture: Mixed-methods evidence in Ghana
title_short Exploring women and youth engagement in aquaculture: Mixed-methods evidence in Ghana
title_sort exploring women and youth engagement in aquaculture mixed methods evidence in ghana
topic gender
agriculture
research
youth
aquaculture
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/137145
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AT kruijssenfroukje exploringwomenandyouthengagementinaquaculturemixedmethodsevidenceinghana
AT amewusena exploringwomenandyouthengagementinaquaculturemixedmethodsevidenceinghana