The Effect of Gender Differences in Land Rights or Adoption of Sustainable Agroforestry Techniques in Sumatra and Western Ghana

Collaborators:

• J.B. Aidoo (University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana)
• Thomas Tomich and Suyanto (ICRAF)
• Keijiro Otsuka
• Agnes Quisumbing (IFPRI)

Lack of tenure security is often argued to deter investment in tree-planting and sustainable agroforestry practices. Ongoing work in Ghana and Sumatra aims to investigate whether differences exist between men's and women's rights to land and trees, and whether these differences affect the efficiency of tree resource management. The study is being undertaken in two sites: (a) a major cocoa growing area in Ghana; and (b) the buffer zone of a national forest in Sumatra. Among the Akan in Western Ghana, the kinship system is uterine matrilineal, and in Sumatra, kinship and inheritance are along matrilineal lines. In both areas, traditional systems of communal ownership and inheritance are giving way to individualized property rights.

The analysis will be based on two sets of surveys: an extensive survey covering wide areas for collecting community-level information, and intensive survey of households in selected areas for collecting detailed institutional, production and gender information. The former survey is useful to delineate the geographical characteristics of tree resource management, to identify broadly the major issues in the region, and to select appropriate study sites for household surveys. The intensive survey is designed to assess management practices of tree resources by households and communities.