5. Ownership Rights and Investment in Agricultural Land in Ghana: A Gender Analysis

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between ownership rights and investment in agricultural land from a gender perspective in Ghana, using the Two-Stage Conditional Maximum Likelihood estimation technique and data from the Ghana Household Asset Survey. The results indicate that investment in agricultural lands is generally low in Ghana and tends to occur mostly in agricultural lands owned by men suggesting its inability to enhance tenure security. Furthermore, investment in agricultural lands owned by men is associated with a wider range of ownership rights. However, the same cannot be said about agricultural land owned by women as investments in their land do not significantly improve their rights to the land. Except for economic rights that appear to have a significant negative association with investments in agricultural lands owned by women, all other rights have no significant relationship with investments in agricultural lands owned by both men and women. There is a positive relationship between age and ownership rights for men suggesting that the youth may have challenges securing their tenure. We recommend the strengthening of the current land administration projects to enhance tenure security. Policies that will support the growing of perennial trees, construction of farmhouses and irrigation should be put in place by the government to encourage men to undertake such investments as they tend to improve ownership rights of agricultural lands. More should also be done to secure the ownership rights of the youth if the government wants them to engage in agriculture.