She said about 80 per cent of the arable lands were owned by customary authorities such as chiefs, clans, family heads and individuals who were mostly men with the exclusion of women and this has increased their dependency and vulnerability in the society.

Ms Alhassan said the supremacy of customary authorities is a contributor to women deprivation of lands despite women accounting for about 70 per cent of subsistence farming and 90 per cent of the labour force in marketing farm produce.

She said this at a press conference held in Tamale to share lessons and experiences learnt in the implementation of the Community Land Development Committee (CLDC) to promote women participation in land tenure systems in communities.

Ms Alhassan said land remains the only resource on which community people depended on for livelihood and must be guarded by the appropriate authorities to ensure the availability of land for future generation. 

She said traditional authorities could serve as agents of change by promoting good land governance and strengthening the voices of women in community dialogues on land focusing on women inclusion and participation in the land tenure system.

Ms Alhassan appealed to the traditional authorities, government, and land agencies to support the inclusion of women decisions making processes as well as ensuring the availability of land, land access and ownership for agricultural productivity.

The Community Land Development Committee (CLDC) is a sustainable tool created to ensure women’s participation in land related decision-making as well as dialogue to showcase opportunities to ensure possible replications at attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s).  

The CLDC intends to maintain the synergies established among chiefs and women as well as the youths to ensure fairness in land allocations for agriculture for small scale farmers especially women to have enhanced security of land tenure.

The CLDC members would serve as communication and governance tools between chiefs and the community members to ensure communities benefit from large scale land-based investments and gender parity in land allocations.