Environmental Considerations of Alternative Livelihoods for Women in Cocoa and Shea Communities in Ghana

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3813886/v1

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Environmental Considerations of Alternative Livelihoods for Women in Cocoa and Shea Communities in Ghana

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3813886/v1

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published 04 Sep, 2024

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Women in cocoa and shea communities have traditionally relied on the extraction of environmental resources for their livelihoods. Due to climatic, economic and social variabilities however, the traditional sources are no longer able to sustain their households and as a result, women are gradually up taking some alternative livelihood sources particularly during offseason. This study explored the effect of such alternative livelihood sources in the cocoa and shea communities on the physical environment. A case study design was employed for the study. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were the main means for obtaining the requisite data from 131 respondents; 88.7% of whom were women drawn from ten communities in three regions in five geographic districts in Ghana. The study revealed that about eighteen alternative livelihood sources pursued by women were key in providing the needs of most households and their effect on the physical environment was negligible. The exceptions were vegetable cultivation, guinea fowl rearing and dawadawa processing in some communities which recorded appreciable negative effect largely due to poor management practices. The study recommended that, to improve and sustain the quality of the environment, there was the need for proper waste disposal practices and the enforcement of policies and laws that prohibit the use of pesticides and other harmful chemicals used in the alternative livelihood activities.

Alternative livelihood

gradual uptake

pesticides

cocoa

shea

Globally, it is acknowledged that a secure livelihood particularly for poor women is central to improved quality of life. No doubt, livelihood is fundamentally connected to multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In particular, the importance of livelihoods for the poor is reflected in the SDG 8, recognizing decent work and economic growth with an emphasis on livelihoods for survival, dignity and fairness (UNESCO, 2016). Enhancing the individual and collective capabilities necessary for securing resilient and sustainable livelihoods is advocated particularly for underserved communities and disadvantaged groups, including rural communities and women (UN Women, 2023).

Over the years, people living in the forest and savannah communities across Africa rely on the natural environment for their livelihoods: with food crop production, livestock and agro-processing being dominant sources. Beyond the rural areas, traditional livelihoods are more diversified, extending from non-farm activities to a wide range of services (Pingali et. Al, 2019). In Ghana, majority of people living in the cocoa zones cultivate cocoa whose beans are sold and the proceeds used to cater for food and other basic needs of households. Other traditional sources from which they derive their food and other household needs include cassava, plantain, cocoyam and vegetables. Both men and women are involved in the value chain of traditional cocoa production; though, due to multiple cultural barriers, men dominate with the women playing peripheral roles (Dery and Dongzagla, 2020).

In the northern and lower middle belts of Ghana where shea trees grow largely in the wild, majority of the rural dwellers depend heavily on the fruits and nuts. Women, however, dominate the shea sector, mainly involving the picking of fresh nuts, shea butter processing, selling and purchasing of shea nuts, buying shea butter and the providing labour for other actors. The cultivation of crops such as maize, rice, groundnuts and livestock rearing also constitute traditional sources for meeting the livelihood requirements of women in the shea zones of Ghana (Adams et. al, 2016 and Seidu, 2015).

While these traditional sources of livelihoods remain the concern of both the poor and non-poor all over the world, evidence suggests that climate variability with adverse impacts of weather are increasingly threatening and eroding the extent to which these can meet the needs, capabilities and rights of the poor households. Increased globalization and pandemics, notably the Covid19, also tend to deepen the vulnerability of groups as they reshape, in more negative ways, the traditional sources of livelihoods (Quinn et al., 2011, Olsson et al., 2014). As the traditional sources of livelihoods for rural communities become increasingly unreliable, alternative sources become paramount. As observed by Roe et al., (2015), alternative livelihoods become necessary where there is the conviction that the existing sources are either unsustainable and or are impacting negatively on other dimensions of life and therefore need to be substituted with better options. Even though the options may vary, alternative livelihoods share a common goal of providing communities and households with another means of making a living different from the one they presently rely on (Roe, et al., (2015)

Similar to global trends, the evidence on the exact number and nature of alternative livelihoods in the shea and cocoa producing communities of Ghana is limited. Nonetheless, once cocoa and shea are seasonal crops, they often leave women working in those sectors without economic opportunities for significant periods of the year (Oxfam, 2020 and International Labour Organisation (ILO), 2012). Evidence on alternative initiatives for individuals or groups of women in cocoa and shea communities is limited. Irrespective of their scope, viable alternative sources of livelihoods tend to re-shape the lives of women more positively and sustainably. Ensuring more sustainable ways and or the need to reduce the pressure they exert on other equally important phenomena such as the natural environment, is paramount in the consideration of alternative sources of livelihoods.

When effectively pursued and in an environmentally sound manner, alternative livelihoods are believed to yield a cumulative effect in improving the livelihoods of rural women, promoting gender equality and further improving the environment. Unfortunately, majority of poor people struggle with either limited options or the capabilities to access and pursue the alternative sources of livelihoods in more environmentally responsive manner. Although there is an increasing uptake of alternative livelihoods by women in the cocoa and shea communities in Ghana, most studies in this field tend to focus on the impact of climate variabilities on such initiatives. Limited evidence exists regarding the extent to which such alternatives impact the environment. Therefore, the objective of the present study is to determine the key alternative livelihoods that women in the cocoa and shea communities in Ghana pursue particularly during offseason and how their pursuit affects the environment.

1.1 Theoretical Basis

Hammond’s (1995) Human Interaction with the Environment model was employed in describing the alterations that can take place in the environment as women seek their livelihoods and reciprocally, the outcomes of such transformation on human welfare (Akintunde, 2017). Humans derive key resources such as minerals, energy and other natural forms from the environment which are employed in their economic activities. The derivation potentially depletes such resources due to the transformation of the natural resources through industrial activities into products for use by beneficiaries. Unexpected or unwanted outcomes of the process of transformation include pollution and wastes. Unless improved through recycling and other means, these outcomes affect the environment negatively. A life support domain views nature as providing the essential life-support services but as human activity expands and degrades or encroaches upon ecosystems, it can reduce the environment's ability to provide such services and ultimately impact negatively on human health and general welfare.

The Human Interaction with the Environment model provided ample insight in understanding possible variables and their outcomes for different human actions and behaviors relative to the environment. In their indigenous knowledge and understanding women in rural communities, particularly in the West African Subregion, often view livelihood as nothing but their means of survival. The sources from which women in the study communities often obtain some income and the tasks that occupy their everyday life from which they obtain food and income beyond relying on cocoa and shea, represent their alternative livelihoods. The efforts undertaken by women to obtain food, income and other basic needs which their traditional sources namely cocoa and shea would have provided, represent human activities. In terms of scope and dimension, the study largely relied on United Nations (2019) and Roe, et al. (2015) positions that an alternative livelihood may be a source of obtaining one’s income or needs that involves a resource other than the one being exploited or providing an entirely different occupation or source of income. An alternative livelihood may also comprise the promotion of alternative methods of pursuing the same venture.

In their desire to earn a secure livelihood from alternative sources, the women in the cocoa and shea communities of Ghana rely largely on environmental resources, cultivating or extracting from water bodies, biodiversity including plant and animal resources for direct use or for prior processing in order to add value before eventual use. The reliance on, and the extraction of such resources for their livelihood activities do transform and alter the environment. The transformation can be positive through conservation and multiplication of the existing resources. It can also be negative through means such as depletion of the existing resources, increase in waste and pollution.

A case study design was employed based on its suitability in framing and guiding the contextualization and delineation of populations with peculiar characteristics. The study area comprised nine administrative regions with their nine districts lying within the shea and cocoa zones of Ghana. Agriculture is the dominant activity employing majority of the adults in the study area and small-scale farming is female dominated which has witnessed very little shift in the last half decade (Oxfam, 2020; Ghana Statistical Service, 2021 and Ghana Statistical Service, 2017).

Multistage and cluster sampling were used in selecting the study communities and respondents. The study regions were first clustered into southern and northern zones. Thence, simple random sampling was employed in selecting five districts; two from the southern zone and three from the North. In all, ten communities, two randomly selected from each district constituted the lower strata. Purposive and snowballing sampling were employed in obtaining a total sample size of 131 respondents. The respondents included 90 women aged between 18 and60years who belonged to shea and cocoa cooperatives and their inclusion was based on their involvement and experiences in some alternative livelihoods. Their selection followed prior focus group discussions which was conducted in each community during which those community members identified as many known women involved in key alternative livelihood as they could remember. Those identified later referred other women to the study team after they were interviewed.

Additionally, 15 women, mostly group leaders were purposively selected, one per community while five other women leaders were selected from the district level. Six opinion leaders were included based on their in-depth knowledge about their communities and what the women were doing to earn a livelihood. Respondents also included 19 officers from government and para institutions, notably Business Advisory Centre, Environmental Protection Agency and Ghana Cocoa Board The sample also included six input suppliers, promoters, credit managers, marketers or purchasers and five officers of selected NGOs.

Data for the study included the socio-economic and cultural background of key respondents, key livelihoods during and offseason, the practical experiences of women and their knowledge, awareness and participation in alternative livelihoods. Questionnaire, Focus Group Discussion Guide and Key Informant Interview Guide were the key instruments used in collecting social and qualitative data. Additionally, an environmental impact assessment checklist containing standard indicators in the form of questions was employed in obtaining data on the impact of the livelihoods on the environment. These indicators were adopted from the Environmental Protection Agency of Ghana and others such as the Centre for Science and the Environment.

In each community, focus group discussions were first conducted to reveal the number and diversity of alternative livelihoods and the women who were directly involved. On average, 11 community members comprising seven women and four men, constituted each focus group. The next stage involved face to face interviews with the women in some alternative livelihoods. In the case of the NGOs, the data was obtained through deployment of the questionnaire in google forms. The final stage of data collection was face to face interviews with key informants.

Data analysis included coding on a pre-arranged coding system and these were presented along common pre-determined themes, patterns and trends. Analysis of the environmental impact data was based on seven key impact areas namely: air quality, water quality, soil, waste generation/disposal, land use, ecology and climate/weather. As each impact area constituted a number of factors, these were presented in the form of questions totaling 38. Water availability and air quality contained eight impact areas each representing the majority while soil and climate contained the least with three impact areas each. {The quantitative analysis also involved the following;

Assignment of numerical values of 1 for a ‘yes’ response and 0 for ‘no’.

A yes value of 1 implied the alternative livelihood exerts an impact on the environment while a no response assumed a zero (0) value implying no impact.

Where 50% or more respondents indicated a yes to a particular impact question, the alternative livelihood was considered to have a significant negative impact on the environment.

Below 50% of the respondents to an impact question meant no significant environmental impact.

Determination of cumulative score per impact area: one-third (38/7 = 12.7) of the total impact as a threshold.

Cumulative scores 12.7 or below were considered to have very minimal negative impact on the environment.

Cumulative scores above 12.7 implied some significant negative impact.

Simple excel sheets and SPSS were then used to enter, process and retrieve the processed data. Descriptive statistics, mostly simple frequencies and percentages were the main means of analysis and presentation of the information.

4.1 Characteristics of Respondents

Table 1

Number and Composition of Respondents
Category	Female		Male
Category	Frequency	% of respondents	Frequency	% of respondents
Women in existing alternative livelihoods	90	68.7	0	0
Women's group leaders	15	11.5	0	0
Opinion leaders	0	0.0	6	4.6
Gov’t & para institutions	7	5.3	12	9.2
Input suppliers	2	1.5	4	3.1
Purchasing companies	1	0.8	2	1.5
District based key informants	3	2.3	3	2.3
NGOs/CSOs	3	2.3	2	1.5
Total	114	92.3	17	22.2
Source: Field survey (2022)

The findings in Table 1 show that out of 131 respondents, majority (87.7%) were women. Their ages ranged from 25 to 55 years with majority within 25 to 40 years. This implies that most women respondents were within the active and productive stages.

4.2 Types of Alternative Livelihoods

Nearly all participants in the focus groups and the key informants agreed that shea and cocoa remain key traditional sources of livelihoods in their communities, pursued by both males and females. Men were noted to be more involved in cocoa farming while women were more present in the shea sector; though the influence of the latter was more in picking and selling the nuts with some limited amount of processing.

All the 90 women in livelihoods confirmed their involvement in one initiative or the other. About 87 of them, representing 96.7%, however, were found to be involved in such initiatives for periods lasting more than one year and as a result, were the focus of the detailed discussion relating to the impact of their initiatives on the environment. As contained in Fig. 1, the prime motivation for the uptake of alternative livelihoods was the inability of the traditional sources of cocoa and shea to meet all their needs; as 66% of the women indicated that traditional sources now meet fewer household needs and hardly any during offseason.

The data in Table 2 reveals that 18 alternative livelihoods were identified across the study communities. The dominant alternatives were vegetable cultivation (21.8%), soap making (12.6%) and rice processing (12.6%). The alternatives that were common to both cocoa and shea zones included soap making, vegetable cultivation, baking, poultry, rice farming and rice milling.

Table 2

Types of Alternative Livelihoods
Category	Alternative livelihood	Number of women pursuing it	Percentage women pursuing it
Processing	Bakery	6	6.9
	cereal trading	3	3.4
	soft drinks making	1	1.1
	cocoa byproducts	1	1.1
	dawadawa processing	3	3.4
	Rice processing	11	12.6
Cultivation	Mushroom	4	4.6
	fish farming	1	1.1
	Snail	1	1.1
	vegetable cultivation	19	21.8
	Rice farming	5	5.7
	other grain crops	4	4.6
Livestock	Guinea fowl	3	3.4
	Piggery	4	4.6
	other livestock	4	4.6
Detergents/cosmetics	Henna	3	3.4
Detergents/cosmetics	soap making	11	12.6
Ceramic	Pottery	3	3.4
Total		87	100.0
Source: Field survey (2022)

Alternative livelihoods that were found to be unique and exclusive to the cocoa communities included mushroom cultivation, snail farming, food crops, such as: early maturing maize, processing of cocoa by-products and local spicy cum herbal drink called sobolo. Sale of grains/cereals, processing of a local cosmetic known as henna, mostly used by Muslims and Zongo communities during their weddings and other ceremonies, piggery and rearing of guinea fowl (Numida meleagris), pottery and the processing of parkia biglobosa, known as dawadawa, or African locust bean, were more dominant in the shea communities.

Nearly all the identified livelihoods had direct link with the natural environment. They were also comparatively small in scale and informal as in the latter, they lacked structured management systems. Even though they were mostly driven by women, their ownership was either an individual, or the entire family. Their day-to-day execution largely involved more traditional, labour intensive and without technology input. Furthermore, some women were operating multiple initiatives, albeit small, on full time basis during offseason or on supplemental basis during cocoa and shea peak seasons.

4.3 Environmental Impact of the Alternative Livelihoods

The impact scores in Fig. 2 show that nearly all the alternatives exert some influence on the physical environment. However, per the scores, the negative impact of the majority (81%) of the alternative livelihoods could be considered negligible. In spite of their negligible impact, waste and smoke from soap making was found to affect air quality, quantity and quality of water. Suspended particles from winnowing and related activities from burning firewood during parboiling of rice and grinding of henna affect the air; while vegetative cover and soil are affected due to rice farming, firing of ovens for baking and clay pots and mushroom farming. Also, solid waste including ash and flour residue is generated in the process of baking. Husk from feed and general waste are all byproducts whose inappropriate disposal were found to pollute the physical environment.

The pursuit of three alternative livelihoods, representing 17% of all the identified alternatives which were exerting some noticeable negative impacts were: vegetable cultivation in SU1 community in S1 District of WN Region and SW1 in the SW District of the UW Region and guinea fowl rearing and dawadawa processing both in SW1 community. In the SW1 community where vegetable production exerted significant negative effect, these were produced close to the river banks and other sources of water which tended to pollute the water. The burning of weeds, refuse or residue in the cause of vegetable cultivation pollutes the air. The use of pesticides in spraying vegetables was also widespread and remains major cause of environmental degradation. Two key informants from Government Departments confirmed the indiscriminate use of pesticides and all manner of chemicals by women and men in the cultivation of vegetables.

With an impact score of -5.3 in SW1 community, the rearing of guinea fowls was considered to have considerable negative impact on the physical environment. The construction of hen coops often involves clearing and loosening of top soil which, when not properly carried out, as was the case in SW1 community, often results in significant soil displacement. The use of chemicals for spraying and disinfecting the poultry farms pollute the environment as the chemicals are composed of toxic substances. Improper disposal of droppings from the guinea fowls remains a common practice among the women who pursue this alternative and the consequences include air and water pollution.

In the SW1 community, where dawadawa processing was found to exert significant negative impact on the environment, harvesting of the fruits from which the seeds are derived involves the use of crude tools and other nonscientific methods which often destroy other flora and living organisms. The reliance on firewood for energy which remains the dominant practice in the SW1 community, depletes the natural vegetation. Boiling of the seeds generates lots of heat and smoke that pollute the air and the need for so much water in separating the seeds from the chaff results in water scarcity and liquid waste. Concerns from focus groups included improper disposal of both liquid and solid waste from dawadawa processing which often results in stagnation in gutters and ponds and become breeding grounds for mosquitoes. The waste water also pollutes sources of drinking water as washing of the seeds is mostly done by the women in the rivers.

The realisation of sustainability livelihoods for poor households is one of today’s greatest challenges that continues to attract global attention. In terms of age, the study revealed that majority of the women were in their active and productive stages in life, implying a great value in terms of their energy, explorative uptake of knowledge and learning regarding livelihoods. Such an age group may also facilitate the ease of harnessing their existing energy for more profitable alternatives. In the same way, time constraints arising from child care and other reproductive roles that equally impact their pursuit of environmentally responsive ways of managing their businesses as adherence often requires a lot of time.

Even though women differed in their understanding regarding traditional and alternative livelihoods, the general message was that traditional sources are mostly activities that provide food and income particularly those inherited and pursued from one generation to the other. Sources of food or income other than what the majority of women traditionally know and have been involved in, are considered alternatives, though, to a larger extent, some women who pursue these tend to approach them more as additional efforts to the traditional sources. Where women were involved in alternative sources of livelihoods, their inability to meet their household needs from only traditional sources remained the major motivation for the uptake of alternative sources by most women. Scarcity of raw materials and other inputs and reduced returns from traditional sources are increasingly incomparable with household needs, hence, the need for alternatives.

Findings on the types of alternative sources of livelihoods and their derivation from the natural environment support studies such as Oxfam (2020), which revealed that in Ghana’s cocoa and shea zones, crop and livestock production, trade in farm and non-farm produce, agricultural processing and full-time wage/salary jobs were among the major livelihoods pursued by women particularly during offseason. Being operated in predominantly agricultural context is unsurprising that majority of the alternative sources are more agro-based. Rather, the concern remains the sustenance or otherwise of women’s dependence on extracting and transforming such agro-based resources for their livelihoods.

The direct extraction of plants and animal products from the environment and the inclusion of some innovations as value-added mechanisms or on supplemental basis also remain a driving force around most alternatives. Blending food crop cultivation with processing and sale of grains and other cereals, processing of cocoa byproducts notably, husk and sponges, henna processing and local brew are practical innovations that women adopted to supplement their traditional sources. In the process of these fusion, emerge waste and related products that tend to affect the environment negatively. Under the lens of Human Interacting with the Environment model (Hammond,1995), the derivation and transformation of the natural resources resulted in food, income and other household needs which are all welfare based but eventually contributed to negative effects on the environment. In their study in Ethiopia, Belay et al. (2017)found that vegetable farmers apply pesticides often in violation of the recommended standards and also and dispose containers unsafely; while in Northern Ghana, Bogweh (2017) found that amidst an increasing cultivation of vegetables, the practice of irrigating them with grey and waste water and the use of pesticides in high dosages posed environmental hazards. The United Nations Environment Programme (2021) found that the indiscriminate use of pesticides can end up in environmental elements such as air, surface waters, groundwater, soil and biota, most often after their intended use. In the absence of effective mechanisms for reducing the use of pesticides as has been the case in some study communities, the depletion of the physical environment is certain. And as espoused under the life support domain of the Human Interacting with Environment model, once depletion of these environmental elements deepens, the ability to sustain the livelihoods of dwellers in such communities can be impaired.

In spite of a gradual uptake of guinea fowl rearing by women, the negative effect of waste and related by- products particularly in SW1 community was evident though inconsistent several studies; for example, Jagdish (2023), that reveal that guinea fowl production practices are eco-friendly as they help reduce the environmental impact of farming activities as their free-range systems reduce soil degradation, water pollution and deforestation.

The practice of harvesting and processing of the dawadawa seeds for direct sale is widespread among the youth and adults. However, the processing of the seeds into soup condiment is prominently a female activity. The negative impact of dawadawa as an alternative livelihood particularly access to the seeds, neither support the position of Adejumo et al. (2013) that in the arid and semi-arid regions of Africa, dawadawa contributes to the stabilization of degraded environment nor Amoako (2012) on its critical role in soil conservation and environmental protection.

Awareness regarding the major triggers of vegetable cultivation, guinea fowl rearing and dawadawa processing on the environment remained low among respondents. Similarly, there was limited evidence of efforts on the part of the operators in reducing the negative impact on the environment. These can be of great concern in the quest for sustainable management of the environment. In the view of some key informants, lapses in adherence to sound management practices remain a major trigger. Comparatively, the pursuit of similar alternative livelihoods such as vegetable production in SU2 community with 7.8 score due to the non-use of pesticides nor any other inorganic material lends credence to lapses in management practices. Guinea fowl rearing and dawadawa processing, for example, are known to be eco-friendly ventures. Booyang Conservation (2018) and Jagdish (2016) maintain that the benefits of guinea fowl droppings are immense as they are a good source of manure high in nitrogen content. Similarly, eco-friendly management of pesticides in vegetables and fruits production include adherence to standards, guided and optimum use (Food and Agricultural Organization, 2016). Therefore, the lack of adherence to sound environmental management practices such as indiscriminate use of pesticides, disposal of waste, droppings and other byproducts can be contributors in the consideration of the extent to which the identified alternative livelihoods alter the environment.

The study found that women’s quest for secure livelihoods for their households depended significantly on traditional sources; notably, cocoa farming and picking of shea nuts for sale and processing of shea butter. Their inability to meet all their needs from the traditional sources influenced their uptake of alternative sources including vegetable and crop farming, agro-processing and other fairly unfamiliar but emerging sources like henna processing. Living and functioning in predominantly rural agricultural setting, influenced the dominance of agro-based alternative sources of livelihoods. The intersectionality between most alternative livelihoods and the environment as well as the informal and low application of technology resulted in varied alteration of the physical environment.

Even though majority of the alternative livelihood sources were found to have insignificant negative effect, vegetable cultivation, guinea fowl rearing and dawadawa processing were found to have some appreciable negative effect in some communities due mainly to the result of poor management practices including: indiscriminate use of pesticides and poor management of waste and other byproducts. It can be concluded that the negative effect of the identified alternatives was more on management practices; given that while the effect was significant in some geographic locations, there was virtually none regarding the same alternatives in other locations. Where an alternative livelihood is managed in more environmentally friendly manner, their negative impact may be negligible and would contribute more positively to the health of the environment.

The study recommends the sensitization of communities, particularly women on the adherence to practices that improve the quality of the environment. The practice of applying pesticides in land preparation and spraying vegetables and surroundings of livestock should be discouraged. The siting of livelihood activities close to water sources and other residential areas should also be outlawed. Importantly, statutory institutions and NGOs that are involved in environmental management, and women empowerment should deepen efforts at promoting more environmentally responsible ways of disposing waste. Proper disposal of solid and liquid waste generated from vegetables, guinea fowls as well as other non-biodegradable material should be promoted. The overreliance on firewood for energy and other energy sources that tend to produce more heat, smoke and other pollutants should be discouraged. Through education and input supply, women could be capacitated to shift from using and burning firewood for heating, boiling and related processes to modern cook stoves and electricity. For women who are involved in crop and vegetable farming, tree planting should be encouraged. The provision of seedlings to such women and other primary change agents, coupled with monitoring is recommended for sustaining the environment.

Ethical Approval

All subjects gave their informed consent for inclusion before they participated in the study. Given that majority of the subjects were non-literate, the authors obtained verbal consent to participate from each subject listening to and confirming their understanding of the objectives of the study. Also, prior to data gathering, the design and data collection instruments underwent a thorough review and triangulation by a very senior researcher from a University in Ghana. As an expert in gender and livelihoods, the expert reviewed all the tools to ensure they meet ethical standards, gender responsive and minimum quality.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors

Author Contribution

All authors contributed variously to the study, from conception to completion. Eric Duorinaah conceived the idea of the paper and contributed to the design, material preparation, data collection, analysis and first draft. Adams Achanso reviewed the design, complete draft and oversight for the paper including quality assurance. Hafix Muntaka coordinated the data collection and reviewed the complete draft. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Availability of data and materials

No other datasets and materials to declare or upload

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No competing interests reported.

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Environmental Considerations of Alternative Livelihoods for Women in Cocoa and Shea Communities in Ghana

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Journal Publication

Version 1

Abstract

Figures

1.0 BACKGROUND

1.1 Theoretical Basis

2.0 METHODOLOGY

4.0 RESULTS OF THE STUDY

4.1 Characteristics of Respondents

4.2 Types of Alternative Livelihoods

4.3 Environmental Impact of the Alternative Livelihoods

5.0 DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

6.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Declarations

Funding

Author Contribution

Availability of data and materials

References

Additional Declarations

Status:

Journal Publication

Version 1