Abukari Abdul-Basit Tampuli, Zakaria Abraham, Azumah Shaibu Baanni
Department of Agricultural and Food Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Sciences, University for Development Studies, Tamale P. O. Box TL, 1350, Ghana.
Action for Shea Parklands, Global Shea Alliance, Asylum Down, Accra, Ghana.
Heliyon. 2022 Feb 3;8(2):e08880. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e08880. eCollection 2022 Feb.
Despite an impressive growth of Ghana's economy over the decades, it has been branded as 'jobless growth' manifested in growing unemployment among the youth. This growing unemployment rate is gender biased against women, with the United Nations expecting this to worsen globally over time. This study examines the determinants of gender-based participation of the youth in income generating enterprises in cocoa growing areas in Ghana, using a sample of 4,702 participants of the Next Generation Cocoa Youth Program (MASO) initiative. This data were obtained by Solidaridad West Africa. The sample was obtained through the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) technique to compare the characteristics of the male and female groups and remove missing observations. The multinomial regression model supported with descriptive analysis were employed for the estimation. It was found that most of those who participated (63%) in the training program were engaged in an income generating activity. Youth engagement in cocoa (9%) as compared with non-cocoa (28%) and joint enterprise (26%) is very low. Given the same level of exposure (MASO), women are more likely to be unemployed, less likely to engage in cocoa production and more likely to be engaged in non-cocoa enterprises. All non-cocoa business enterprises are dominated by men except petty trading and agro processing. Age, marital status, education, savings, additional training, migrant status and gender, influenced engagements in the various categories of enterprises. The study recommends rolling out other policies that can address challenges of women engagement in cocoa farming in addition to the training program. Policies towards encouraging savings among the youth is recommended to aid in startup businesses, which may be supported by low interest loans. Attention should be given to the non-cocoa sector in terms of employment as people are either losing interest in cocoa farming or diversifying their incomes to non-cocoa businesses.
尽管几十年来加纳经济取得了令人瞩目的增长，但它却被贴上了“无就业增长”的标签，表现为青年失业率不断上升。这种不断上升的失业率存在性别偏见，对女性不利，联合国预计随着时间的推移，这种情况在全球范围内会恶化。本研究以加纳可可种植区下一代可可青年计划（MASO）倡议的4702名参与者为样本，考察了青年基于性别的参与创收企业的决定因素。这些数据由西非法团提供。样本是通过倾向得分匹配（PSM）技术获得的，以比较男性和女性群体的特征并去除缺失观测值。估计采用了描述性分析支持的多项回归模型。研究发现，参加培训计划的人中大多数（63%）从事创收活动。与非可可（28%）和联合企业（26%）相比，青年参与可可行业的比例（9%）非常低。在相同的接触水平（MASO）下，女性更有可能失业，参与可可生产的可能性更小，而参与非可可企业的可能性更大。除了小贸易和农产品加工外，所有非可可商业企业都由男性主导。年龄、婚姻状况、教育程度、储蓄、额外培训、移民身份和性别影响了各类企业的参与情况。该研究建议，除了培训计划外，还应推出其他政策来应对女性参与可可种植面临的挑战。建议出台鼓励青年储蓄的政策，以帮助创业，这可能得到低息贷款的支持。鉴于人们要么对可可种植失去兴趣，要么将收入多样化到非可可业务，应关注非可可部门的就业情况。
