Factors Influencing Rural Livelihood Diversification Activities among Women in Northern Region of Ghana

Livelihood sustainability remains a major challenge for rural households in Northern Ghana. Although farming has traditionally been the core livelihood strategy for most households, diversifying into non-farm activities remains a common livelihood strategy employed to sustain household basic needs, particularly for women, who because of their gender often face challenges in accessing land for farming purposes. There remains a dearth in knowledge regarding understanding fully the factors, which influence livelihood diversification activities women in Ghana. The paper uses a Probit model to examine the factors that influence livelihood diversification activities, using cross-sectional data from households in Northern Ghana. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 260 households for investigation. Data were collected by use of survey questionnaire and analysed using Probit model with livelihood diversification being the dependent variable. The findings showed that age, household size, formal education, group membership, participation in training, participation in decision-making, resource access and level of household poverty to influence women’s participation in livelihood diversification. The results suggest that policy to improve women’s participation in decision-making and provide support to women non-farm livelihood groups in the form of training, credit and markets, which will be vital to enhancing livelihood and reducing poverty in Northern Ghana.