The Role of Women Farmers in Choosing Species for Agroforestry Farming Systems in Rural Areas of Ghana

Agroforestry as a fanning system involves organizing available resources to produce forest tree and agricultural crop/livestock products on the same piece of land either simultaneously or sequentially for the well-being of the farmer. When species and technology are well chosen and efficiently managed, agroforestry provides productive, protective, and other socioeconomic benefits to the farmer on a sustainable basis. Compared to other systems, agroforestry is productive on marginal lands, and meets rural dwellers&s; diverse food and forest products demands. The tradition of conserving certain useful forest trees on farms outside the forest reserve is as old as rural farming activities in Ghana. A major constraint for conducting feasibility studies on new agroforestry projects in Ghana is lack of data on the traditional agroforestry areas. Men farmers were found to engage in deforestation activities more than the women farmers. Planning, design/field layout, and implementation strategy were formulated with both men and women farmers&s; involvement.