TY - JOUR
T1 - The informal palm oil and kernel processing industry in Ghana
T2 - A safe haven or a poverty trap for women?
AU - Obodai, Jacob
AU - Okoh Agyemang, Festus
AU - Baffour Asamoah, Paul Kitson
AU - Acheampong Abaitey, Abena Korang
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - According to the International Labour Organisation, the informal sector employs more than 60% of the world’s workforce. Due to severe gender inequality in the formal sector, women dominate the informal economy in Sub-Saharan Africa. As a result, the informal sector can help with poverty reduction efforts, especially among vulnerable groups like women. Despite a number of studies examining various businesses, the informal palm oil and kernel production industry (POKPI) has garnered little attention, especially in Ghana. We used a cross-sectional survey design and pragmatism as our philosophical approach to answer the question of whether the POKPI is a safe haven or a poverty trap for women. The perspective through which we conducted this research was the Sustainable Livelihood Approach. The findings demonstrate that the POKPI has a lot of promise for providing women with long-term livelihood options. However, if its current slew of problems is neglected, it has the potential to sink its participants into a never-ending cycle of poverty. As a result, we made some suggestions for overcoming the obstacles to positioning the POKPI as a viable livelihood plan for women.
AB - According to the International Labour Organisation, the informal sector employs more than 60% of the world’s workforce. Due to severe gender inequality in the formal sector, women dominate the informal economy in Sub-Saharan Africa. As a result, the informal sector can help with poverty reduction efforts, especially among vulnerable groups like women. Despite a number of studies examining various businesses, the informal palm oil and kernel production industry (POKPI) has garnered little attention, especially in Ghana. We used a cross-sectional survey design and pragmatism as our philosophical approach to answer the question of whether the POKPI is a safe haven or a poverty trap for women. The perspective through which we conducted this research was the Sustainable Livelihood Approach. The findings demonstrate that the POKPI has a lot of promise for providing women with long-term livelihood options. However, if its current slew of problems is neglected, it has the potential to sink its participants into a never-ending cycle of poverty. As a result, we made some suggestions for overcoming the obstacles to positioning the POKPI as a viable livelihood plan for women.
KW - Informal sector
KW - oil processing industry
KW - poverty
KW - sustainable livelihoods
KW - women
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U2 - 10.1080/23311886.2022.2035046
DO - 10.1080/23311886.2022.2035046
M3 - Article (journal)
AN - SCOPUS:85125735177
SN - 2331-1886
VL - 8
SP - 1
EP - 18
JO - Cogent Social Sciences
JF - Cogent Social Sciences
IS - 1
M1 - 2035046
ER -