Traditional Livelihood Practices among Indigenous Dagomba Women of Ghana: A Study of Women of Sagnarigu

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue XI, November 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186

Traditional Livelihood Practices among Indigenous Dagomba Women of Ghana: A Study of Women of Sagnarigu

Adam Bawa Yussif Ph.D¹, Jacob Abudu², Dominic Dery Ph.D³

^1,2,3Snr Lecturer, Tamale Technical University, Ghana

Abstract: – The study is about traditional livelihood practices among indigenous dagomba women with particular reference to women of Sagnarigu, a suburb of Tamale in the northern regional. Using a cross sectional approach, the study explores the various livelihood practices adopted by women of Sagnarigu to sustain the lives of their families. The study found among others that the production and sale of vegetables was one of the main livelihood strategies adopted by the women of Sagnarigu; but this was not enough to sustain the women and their families all year round. As a result, the women-farmers had to engage in other livelihood strategies to complement their farming activities. The study also found that 92% of the women did not have any formal education and this to a large extent, limited their access to higher paying off-farm opportunities. The study concludes that the female indigenous farmers of Sagnarigu, augment their returns from vegetable production with income from other economic activities.

Key Words: Livelihood, economic activities, indigenous, families, sustainability

I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

According to Aduse-Poku et al. (2003), the concept of livelihood has remained a subject of utmost importance due to its inevitable role to human existence. A livelihood is much more than a job as it covers a whole range of things people do to make a living. Recent increases in population and in technology across the world have brought about more variations in livelihood activities among communities, thereby further puzzling the livelihood concept. Most people especially in the rural areas of the developing world, obtain their means of livelihood from their immediate environments. Carney (1999) also argues that, the livelihoods and quality of life of the rural dwellers in Sub-Saharan Africa is affected or even controlled by a multiplicity of factors or contexts that make life for them almost a struggle for survival. These factors border on economic policies, agro-climate, environment, socio-culture, demography, infrastructure, services, governance and so forth.

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