Agricultural mechanisation and women smallholder farmers in Northern Ghana: understanding traditional on-farm practices through feminist political ecology (FPE)
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University of Passau
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Agricultural mechanization remains central to improving productivity and easing labor constraints for smallholder farmers. Yet, access to mechanized technologies continues to be uneven, particularly along gender lines. In Northern Ghana, the introduction of mechanized maize shellers under the Africa RISING project aimed to reduce women’s physical burden and time constraints during harvesting. Despite their potential benefits, women’s access to and use of these technologies remain limited. This study draws on Feminist Political Ecology (FPE) to explore how gender relations, community norms, and household decision-making shape women’s engagement with mechanization. Using qualitative methods, including key informant interviews and participatory focus group discussions, the research examines the everyday negotiations, meanings, and power dynamics that influence who can access and operate the maize sheller. The findings show that women’s interaction with mechanization is embedded in social relations that privilege male authority and legitimacy. Women’s access to shellers often occurs through men, reflecting not only structural barriers but also the moral and symbolic power that define gender roles in farming. However, the study also reveals subtle shifts in women’s self-perception and confidence. Mechanization brings physical ease, recognition, and a quiet sense of capability derived from fulfilling household responsibilities and cooperation. By analysing these everyday practices, the study argues that limited access to mechanization among women smallholder farmers is less a technical issue of availability and more a manifestation of gendered power relations. It highlights that empowerment through mechanization emerges not only from ownership or direct use but from how women negotiate visibility, legitimacy, and self-worth within the broader play of power that organizes rural agricultural life.
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political ecology, gender, mechanization, shellers, smallholder farmers, ghana