New Ways of Protecting the Environment: The Case of Agro-Processors in Ghana

Abstract

Microfinance programmes generally involve granting of small loans to the poor, particularly women, with the aim of increasing their income levels. Results of most microfinance impact evaluations (Al-hassan, 2011 and Egyir, 2008) have revealed that small loan schemes have impacted positively on the lives of micro entrepreneurs (improved incomes, savings, health, education) and have ensured financial sustainability. It is well known that small loan beneficiaries highly depend on the environment to run their microenterprises leading to overutilization and sometimes depletion of natural resources and degrading the environment. Unfortunately, the relationship between microfinance activities and sustainable land management, agricultural development and natural resource protection has received little attention in most impact evaluations suggesting that microcredit impact evaluations over estimate the gains from such schemes. Again, positivists argue that microfinance institutions have played significant role in influencing environmental policy through advocacy and empowerment of rural micro entrepreneurs but the extent to which local people, particularly women entrepreneurs participate in environmental protection has received little empirical evidence. This paper analyses the practices adapted by women agro-processors to protect the environment using the sustainable livelihoods (SL) approach. Key words: Environment, gender, Agro-processing, microfinance The research is funded by African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), Nairobi, Kenya