• About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
  • Login
The Vaultz News
  • Top Stories
  • News
    • General News
    • Education
    • Health
    • Opinions
  • Economics
    • Economy
    • Finance
      • Banking
      • Insurance
      • Pension
    • Securities/Markets
  • Business
    • Agribusiness
    • Vaultz Business
    • Extractives/Energy
    • Real Estate
  • World
    • Africa
    • America
    • Europe
    • UK
    • USA
    • Asia
    • Around the Globe
  • Innovation
    • Technology
    • Wheels
  • Entertainment
  • 20MOBPL2DNew
  • Jobs & Scholarships
    • Job Vacancies
    • Scholarships
No Result
View All Result
The Vaultz News
  • Top Stories
  • News
    • General News
    • Education
    • Health
    • Opinions
  • Economics
    • Economy
    • Finance
      • Banking
      • Insurance
      • Pension
    • Securities/Markets
  • Business
    • Agribusiness
    • Vaultz Business
    • Extractives/Energy
    • Real Estate
  • World
    • Africa
    • America
    • Europe
    • UK
    • USA
    • Asia
    • Around the Globe
  • Innovation
    • Technology
    • Wheels
  • Entertainment
  • 20MOBPL2DNew
  • Jobs & Scholarships
    • Job Vacancies
    • Scholarships
No Result
View All Result
The Vaultz News
No Result
View All Result

Ghana: Closing the Gender Gaps in Informal Oil Palm Industry to Benefit Women Workers- CGIAR

January 21, 2022
Stephen M.Cby Stephen M.C
in Agribusiness
0
Ghana: Closing the Gender Gaps in Informal Oil Palm Industry to Benefit Women Workers- CGIAR

Oil Palm Plantation

‘Oil palm mamas’ or ‘market queens’, as they are descriptively referred to, in the informal oil palm industry in Ghana, because of their high-profile operations throughout the oil palm value chain play a highly competitive role in the sector.

Representative of all women workers within the oil palm industry, these oil palm mamas, unlike their male counterparts (oil palm kings) face gendered challenges that grossly shrink the benefits and opportunities open to them in the sector.

The timely research conducted by scientists with the CGIAR Research Programs on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA), Policies Institutions and Marketplaces (PIM) and partners, identified the opportunities and challenges for realizing sustainable and gender equitable value chain participation across different types of palm oil processing mills.

RelatedPosts

Unchecked Raw Cashew Exports Threaten Jobs and Undermine 24-Hour Economy Policy – ACPG Raises Alarm

COCOBOD Launches Balanced Scorecard to Drive Performance and Revitalise Cocoa Sector

Mahama Unveils Ambitious Plan to Irrigate 2 Million Hectares Under 24-Hour Economy

Notably, the findings of the research lifts the veil off the sector, and proposes that palm oil enterprises and stakeholders in formal and informal sectors improve their production systems without disproportionately disadvantaging women workers.

CGIAR’s Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) in carrying out the gendered analysis, used sex-disaggregated surveys, semi-structured interviews and stakeholder forums, to measure the social footprint of informal and formal market value chains for oil palm in Ghana’s Eastern Region.

Emily Gallagher, a scientist at CIFOR-ICRAF with specialty in integrated rural development, said:

“What we want to demonstrate with this social footprint analysis is that both formal and informal oil palm processors serve functional niches in this highly gendered economy,”  while defining “highly gendered” as an economy structured by gender norms in which women and men each have specific roles with little crossover or transgression of those norms.  

“The methodology proposed in the manual allows us to share our findings visually with palm oil enterprises so that they can take actionable steps to upgrade processing conditions and improve employee satisfaction without sacrificing labor opportunities for women and men.”

Emily Ghallagher, Scientist, CIFOR-ICRAF
More Women are less competitive in the industry

Previous research on the subject within the oil palm sector revealed that by formalizing the sector, women could be disproportionately disempowered. While it is easy for men to find decent jobs in the formal sector, women are more likely relegated to temporary work and lower-paying positions.

In most cases, women have slim chances to receive formal education and training, which makes them less competitive in a formalized industry with rapidly evolving technologies.

“We must address issues of fair competition, contract loyalty and basic environmental and occupational health standards while finding ways to support a vibrant palm oil economy that works for producers and processors of different genders.”

Emily Ghallagher, Scientist, CIFOR-ICRAF

 In making this happen, the research revealed that there are means by which the formal sector could accommodate some of the social structures and flexible work arrangements that make artisanal processing mills appealing to female workers.

Also, both formal and informal sectors in a very profound sense, can choose to upgrade to new technologies so that the industry would not drop unskilled laborers but rather provide intrinsic opportunities to all.

The research made references to the development of gender-responsive oil palm sustainability standards through CIFOR-ICRAF’s ongoing engagement with certification bodies such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and the Tree Crops Development Authority (TDCA).

By bringing together stakeholders and interest groups would help develop standards that are equitable for women and men of different ethnicities, classes and generations, the research noted. As a result, ‘oil palm mamas’ and ‘market queens and kings’ can continue to demonstrate, fairly-compensated roles in Ghana’s oil palm sector and beyond.

Indeed, the informal oil palm sector is saddled with long-standing problems including low oil extraction rates, poor working conditions and negative environmental impacts linked to carbon emissions, air and water pollution which poses greater risk to workers within this space.

The gender gaps within the sector show that about 80 percent of informal mills are owned by men, even though the operators and majority of laborers are women; this creates a barrier to equal benefit sharing between the genders.

By extension, other issues have become of interest in the sector, that is, the government’s decision to indefinitely suspend the review of the 50% benchmark reduction policy. Of which the Oil Palm Development Association of Ghana (OPDAG), in a statement, has called on the government to reconsider its decision in order to salvage local businesses.

READ ALSO: UK Gov’t Supports Company to Export Emergency Bridges for Flood-Hit Areas in Ghana

Tags: extractionForestrygenderghanaOil palm
Please login to join discussion
Previous Post

Political Ambition Sparks Chaos In Davido’s Family

Next Post

Top US & Russian diplomats meet in Switzerland as tensions over Ukraine rise

Sign up for The Vaultz analytic wire

Get weekly news analysis from top editors at The Vaultz and stay informed on trending economic and business issues from across the globe.

Related Posts

Debby Reveals Professionalism Fuels Female Musicians
Entertainment

Debby Reveals Professionalism Fuels Female Musicians

July 9, 2025
Mass Jail Sentences Deepen Tunisia’s Political Crisis
Africa

Mass Jail Sentences Deepen Tunisia’s Political Crisis

July 9, 2025
Mustapha Gbande, Party, President.
General News

Every NDC Member Is Better Off Today – Gbande

July 9, 2025
Deadly Rush Confirms Fears About Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
Asia

Mass Casualty Incidents Besmirch Gaza’s Aid Struggle

July 9, 2025
GoldBod CEO Champions Value Addition in Mining
Extractives/Energy

Ghana Poised to Reap Big from Soaring Gold Prices

July 9, 2025
Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, Ghana's Minister for Education
General News

Ghana Moves to Overhaul Scholarship Regime with New Bill

July 9, 2025
Debby Reveals Professionalism Fuels Female Musicians
Entertainment

Debby Reveals Professionalism Fuels Female Musicians

by Esther Korantemaa OffeiJuly 9, 2025
Mass Jail Sentences Deepen Tunisia’s Political Crisis
Africa

Mass Jail Sentences Deepen Tunisia’s Political Crisis

by Lawrence AnkutseJuly 9, 2025
Mustapha Gbande, Party, President.
General News

Every NDC Member Is Better Off Today – Gbande

by Silas Kafui AssemJuly 9, 2025
Deadly Rush Confirms Fears About Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
Asia

Mass Casualty Incidents Besmirch Gaza’s Aid Struggle

by Comfort AmpomaaJuly 9, 2025
GoldBod CEO Champions Value Addition in Mining
Extractives/Energy

Ghana Poised to Reap Big from Soaring Gold Prices

by Prince AgyapongJuly 9, 2025
Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, Ghana's Minister for Education
General News

Ghana Moves to Overhaul Scholarship Regime with New Bill

by Evans Junior OwuJuly 9, 2025
Debby Reveals Professionalism Fuels Female Musicians
Mass Jail Sentences Deepen Tunisia’s Political Crisis
Mustapha Gbande, Party, President.
Deadly Rush Confirms Fears About Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
GoldBod CEO Champions Value Addition in Mining
Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, Ghana's Minister for Education
[/vc_row_inner]

Recent News

  • Debby Reveals Professionalism Fuels Female Musicians
  • Mass Jail Sentences Deepen Tunisia’s Political Crisis
  • Every NDC Member Is Better Off Today – Gbande
  • Mass Casualty Incidents Besmirch Gaza’s Aid Struggle
  • Ghana Poised to Reap Big from Soaring Gold Prices
The Vaultz News

Copyright © 2021 The Vaultz News. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact

Follow Us

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Top Stories
  • News
    • General News
    • Education
    • Health
    • Opinions
  • Economics
    • Economy
    • Finance
      • Banking
      • Insurance
      • Pension
    • Securities/Markets
  • Business
    • Agribusiness
    • Vaultz Business
    • Extractives/Energy
    • Real Estate
  • World
    • Africa
    • America
    • Europe
    • UK
    • USA
    • Asia
    • Around the Globe
  • Innovation
    • Technology
    • Wheels
  • Entertainment
  • 20MOBPL2D
  • Jobs & Scholarships
    • Job Vacancies
    • Scholarships

Copyright © 2021 The Vaultz News. All rights reserved.