\n
\n<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanamma.com\/2019\/03\/glauc-new.jpg\"\/)
\n<\/div>\nThe cashew sector, much like agriculture\u00a0as a whole, has\u00a0traditionally involved\u00a0the participation of\u00a0men and women, youth\u00a0and adults.\u00a0Although cashew, in the past, was not given much focus as an economic crop, it has\u00a0become an area of interest,\u00a0especially\u00a0in the last decade and a half, as its economic benefits have been discovered.<\/p>\n
For instance, the African cashew sector raked in about $196 million in revenue in 2017, and cashew contributed about 53 per cent of Ghana\u2019s non-traditional tree crop export in 2018.\u00a0The annual global demand for cashew has\u00a0also\u00a0been consistently increasing by 7-10% over the last ten years. In 2018, Africa contributed 57 per cent of global cashew production.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
With its increasing demand,\u00a0the cashew sector\u00a0presents many employment and\u00a0stable\u00a0income opportunities for\u00a0all, especially rural\u00a0women.\u00a0The cashew\u00a0sector\u00a0currently employs\u00a0thousands of\u00a0women\u00a0across the value chain, but there are still specific challenges that\u00a0reinforce gender gaps and\u00a0prevent women from accessing the opportunities\u00a0available in\u00a0the sector. Social and cultural beliefs that indirectly limit women\u2019s access to\u00a0education,\u00a0land,\u00a0capital, as well as\u00a0unpaid domestic work\u00a0that reduces women\u2019s\u00a0time for income-generating activity,\u00a0are a few of these challenges.<\/p>\n
Another\u00a0key challenge is the general absence of strong gender-specific policies to close gender gaps within the cashew sector.\u00a0Over the years, efforts have been made\u00a0in various cashew-producing countries\u00a0to resolve\u00a0some of the needs of the underprivileged in the development of cashew sector policies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Strategies\u00a0have been\u00a0planned to promote income-generating activities for women and young people.\u00a0For example,\u00a0at the government level,\u00a0Burkina Faso demonstrates\u00a0this in\u00a0its\u00a0national vision\u00a0of an agricultural sector held by\u00a0women and\u00a0youth.\u00a0In Benin,\u00a0gender mainstreaming is being done\u00a0in cross-cutting activities.<\/p>\n
Other value chain actors are also increasingly making conscious attempts at mainstreaming gender in their outfits.\u00a0Several processing plants\u00a0in the sub-region have demonstrated this by implementing policies such as non-discrimination related to gender in remuneration and other socio-professional benefits. Others include\u00a0the separation of toilets and showers,\u00a0provision of\u00a0canteens, day care centres, study halls and vocational training\u00a0for both male and female staff.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Current involvement of women in the\u00a0cashew value chain<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
While the proactive action by\u00a0the\u00a0private sector is\u00a0commendable, there is still a need for gender regulatory policies from government.<\/p>\n
In the production\u00a0of\u00a0cashew, a significant number of women\u00a0are\u00a0involved in harvest and post-harvest activities. In view of this strong presence of women in\u00a0these production-related\u00a0activities, a study revealed that\u00a0training\u00a0tools were naturally developed to include women. In Ghana and Benin, beekeeping projects introduced on\u00a0cashew orchards\u00a0are also\u00a0carried out mostly\u00a0by women.<\/p>\n
In recent times, women have also\u00a0been\u00a0heavily involved in grafting, thus the production of improved planting material. Nursery managers have expressed preference for female grafters over male, as the success rate of seedlings\u00a0has been observed to be higher when grafting is done by the former. In spite of this\u00a0observed\u00a0expertise\u00a0of women\u00a0which culminates in the increase\u00a0of\u00a0quality and quantity of cashew produced locally, hardly any women own nurseries in Ghana and the sub-region.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In\u00a0processing, women\u00a0constitute\u00a0about 80 per cent\u00a0of\u00a0the workforce. This would\u00a0have\u00a0been\u00a0a\u00a0praiseworthy achievement except for that majority of these women occupy\u00a0the lower\u00a0ranks in the processing plants and thus, earn\u00a0low incomes. Their main roles include\u00a0shelling,\u00a0peeling, sorting, classification,\u00a0and\u00a0cleaning.\u00a0There is barely any female\u00a0representation\u00a0at\u00a0decision-making and managerial levels.\u00a0To date, those who succeed in owning processing units are\u00a0considered\u00a0rare exceptions.<\/p>\n
Women and young people’s access to\u00a0land\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
Certain cultural provisions within the sub-region have made it quite difficult for\u00a0women\u00a0and youth\u00a0to\u00a0gain\u00a0access to land. Although\u00a0the legislation does not discriminate against access\u00a0to and possession of land, socio-cultural factors play a huge part in the discrimination against women.\u00a0This fact, coupled with\u00a0the perennial nature of the crop,\u00a0makes it\u00a0even more cumbersome\u00a0for these groups to access arable land.\u00a0The\u00a0relatively long period of\u00a0cultivation renders\u00a0leasing land for\u00a0a\u00a0short term\u00a0almost impossible.\u00a0In some cases, landowners\u00a0have\u00a0been reported to reclaim ownership of the lands when the\u00a0production of\u00a0trees\u00a0was at its peak.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, some\u00a0successful cases\u00a0of\u00a0lobbying\u00a0and community mobilisation\u00a0to\u00a0facilitate\u00a0women and young people access to land\u00a0in neighbouring countries\u00a0could be\u00a0referred to. The ultimate goal is to\u00a0create\u00a0a\u00a0change of\u00a0mindset.\u00a0In addition,\u00a0there are\u00a0other\u00a0noteworthy\u00a0strategic approaches underway in\u00a0Burkina\u00a0Faso, namely:<\/p>\n
\u2022 The\u00a0adoption\u00a0of Rural Women’s Day\u00a0to promote gender equality and female empowerment amongst rural\u00a0folk;<\/p>\n
\u2022 The implementation of a national strategy to promote women’s entrepreneurship that addresses the issue of women’s access to land;<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0Community organising by women\u2019s associations to request for a plot of land to cultivate as a group (common field system).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Actively\u00a0involving\u00a0women in\u00a0the development of the cashew sector<\/b><\/p>\n
The correlation between the financial empowerment\u00a0of women\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0economic independence\u00a0of African countries\u00a0is intrinsic.\u00a0Seriously considering\u00a0and making provision for\u00a0the active engagement of women in the sector would not on only be beneficial to\u00a0them but to the economy of producing countries.\u00a0Facilitation of access to finance for sector actors, particularly\u00a0women, would ensure an increase in production and local processing, and consequently, increase in job creation for the population.<\/p>\n
Would it be right to\u00a0presume\u00a0that the\u00a0low representation of women in policy-making partly explains\u00a0why\u00a0decisions\u00a0have so far\u00a0not integrated\u00a0specific\u00a0challenges\u00a0women face?\u00a0An organisation that does not have equal representation of the population\u00a0cannot have a satisfactorily holistic approach, or policies\u00a0since not\u00a0all perspectives\u00a0are reflected.\u00a0Various experiences have shown that thinking, speaking, deciding and acting for women without women\u00a0is\u00a0counterproductive.\u00a0Women should, therefore, be included actively in\u00a0decision making\u00a0in the sector.<\/p>\n
Capacity building is definitely\u00a0another\u00a0strong pillar to ensuring active\u00a0female\u00a0participation in the sector.\u00a0Governments could set compulsory quotas for women in training\u00a0programmes.\u00a0An example of this is seen in the approach used by the GIZ-implemented cashew project, the\u00a0Competitive Cashew initiative (GIZ\/ComCashew).\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the\u00a0cashew Master Training Programme, a quota\u00a0of\u00a0one\u00a0woman for every\u00a0three\u00a0men presented by each institution is required.\u00a0The training, which focuses on training cashew sector actors on\u00a0production-related issues, processing and supply chain linkage topics, has so far trained over\u00a0482\u00a0cashew sector experts\u00a0from 16 African countries, 24% of whom are women.<\/p>\n
In addition, the\u00a0Consultative International\u00a0Cashew Council (CICC)\u00a0could\u00a0commit to pushing\u00a0for gender mainstreaming in policy formulation and implementation. The CICC\u00a0is an international\u00a0body\u00a0that\u00a0brings cashew-producing countries together to dialogue on and promotes regulation of the sector, with the objective of making the cashew sector more competitive and profitable for all stakeholders.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Currently made up of ministers of agriculture from African countries, it\u00a0should make\u00a0mainstreaming gender in its member countries\u2019 policies one of its priority areas.\u00a0Commitment\u00a0of member countries, specifically ministers and other executive members,\u00a0must follow if any\u00a0tangible results\u00a0are to be\u00a0achieved.<\/p>\n
The need to optimise and value the contribution and responsibility of all stakeholders is\u00a0increasingly\u00a0becoming apparent. The socio-economic benefits of reducing gender disparities in living conditions and incomes, as well as improving food security for\u00a0all,\u00a0cannot be overemphasised. It\u00a0is\u00a0now\u00a0about finding the most\u00a0appropriate and effective strategies to use in reaching targets.\u00a0In this\u00a0vein,\u00a0both\u00a0private and public sector\u00a0actors\u00a0should be involved\u00a0in creating and implementing solutions.\u00a0Political will is a fundamental starting point.\u00a0Cashew\u00a0focal\u00a0persons\u00a0at\u00a0the Ministry of\u00a0Food and\u00a0Agriculture\u00a0must actively work\u00a0for the integration of gender in policies and strategies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After\u00a0integration, it\u00a0is also necessary to\u00a0ensure\u00a0validation\u00a0of documents and\u00a0reach\u00a0out for external support for implementation.\u00a0This is a process that\u00a0needs to be initiated right from the design\u00a0stage,\u00a0supported by actual implementation activities, and\u00a0must have\u00a0a particular focus on mindset change. Monitoring and evaluation during the different phases, thus at the\u00a0beginning, during the implementation and at the end of an intervention,\u00a0will allow\u00a0necessary readjustments upstream and downstream.<\/p>\n
Another\u00a0way of promoting\u00a0women\u2019s\u00a0participation is the formulation and implementation of\u00a0policies that\u00a0facilitate their access to land. This would move women from the operational level to more strategic\u00a0managerial and technical positions\u00a0like\u00a0plantation\u00a0management\u00a0and\u00a0ownership.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mentorship by female leaders, investment in training and recognition of such women in the cashew sector would also go a long to boost the morale of others and make the sector more attractive, not only to women but also to the teeming unemployed youth in the sub-region.<\/p>\n
If any meaningful female representation and impact is to be felt in the cashew sector,\u00a0all cashew sector\u00a0policies\u00a0must include\u00a0specific provisions on female inclusion and\u00a0gender\u00a0perspectives. The\u00a0cashew sector is profitable but still has the potential to churn out even more benefits. The\u00a0acknowledgement,\u00a0conscious inclusion of women and their contributions will make it go even further.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n