By Eric Appah Marfo
Accra, May 15, GNA – The United Nations Working Group on the Rights of Peasants has urged the Government to give agricultural communities a stronger voice in decisions affecting their livelihoods.
The experts warned that despite Ghana’s progressive agricultural and human rights policies, many rural communities remained excluded from meaningful participation in governance and economic opportunities.
Madam Genevieve Savigny, a member of the Working Group representing Western Europe, gave the advice on Thursday at an end-of-mission press briefing in Accra, where the delegation presented its preliminary findings and recommendations following a 10-day official visit to Ghana.
While in Ghana, members of the Working Group engaged government institutions, farmers, fisherfolk, pastoralists, civil society organisations, traditional authorities and rural communities to assess the human rights situation of peasants and rural workers.
“The voices of those who produce Ghana’s food must be heard where decisions about Ghana’s food systems are made,” Madam Savigny said.
She said the country had established a commendable policy and legislative framework to protect rural communities and support agricultural transformation, the major challenge remained implementation and political will.
“The open question before us is not whether Ghana possesses the tools. It is whether it commands the political will to apply them,” she said.
“To enforce rights against powerful interests. To commit to the deeper social changes without which legal frameworks remain aspirational.”
The Working Group noted that despite progress through policies and legislation, many smallholder farmers, artisanal fishers and pastoralists continued to face exclusion from meaningful participation in governance and economic opportunities.
According to the experts, top-down decision-making structures often reduced rural communities to “objects of policy rather than rights-holders with agency.”
The delegation urged government to establish formal consultation platforms at the district and national levels to ensure farmers, women, youth and pastoral communities participated directly in the design, implementation and evaluation of agricultural and environmental policies.
The Working Group also raised concerns about increasing pressures on Ghana’s traditional seed systems.
It noted that although government policies sought to strengthen farmer-managed seed networks, recent seed and biotechnology reforms could potentially favour commercial and breeder-controlled varieties over indigenous seed systems.
The experts said farmers and civil society organisations had expressed concerns over some proposed or existing measures, that could limit access to non-certified local seed varieties and undermine traditional practices of saving, sharing and using seeds.
The delegation further observed that smallholder farmers continued to face structural barriers in accessing markets and sustainable livelihoods.
It identified poor road infrastructure, inadequate storage and cold-chain facilities, water shortages, climate variability and the dominance of intermediary traders as major factors suppressing farmgate prices and increasing post-harvest losses.
“The dominance of intermediary traders, who control distribution networks and retail channels, systematically suppresses farmgate prices and appropriates a disproportionate share of value that should accrue to the primary family producer,” the Group said.
It highlighted the exclusion of smallholder farmers and artisanal fishers from formal credit systems due to lack of collateral.
Without adequate investment and institutional support, the experts warned that the sustainability of Ghana’s smallholder food system could remain under threat.
In the fisheries sector, the delegation raised concerns over illegal fishing practices, declining fish stocks and destructive methods such as light fishing, harmful chemicals, and the use of fine-mesh nets.
They observed that although women dominated fish processing, marketing and distribution, they remained largely excluded from governance structures and had limited access to credit and organisational support.
The Working Group expressed concern over the conditions facing pastoralists and Fulbe communities, describing them as among the most excluded groups encountered during the visit.
According to the delegation, many pastoralist communities faced barriers to citizenship documentation and legal protection, while shrinking grazing lands and climate pressures continued to fuel tensions between herders and farmers.
They commended Ghana for initiatives such as the Community Resource Management Area model and the National Alternative Employment and Livelihood Programme, which they described as examples of inclusive and participatory governance.
The Group also acknowledged Ghana’s legislative progress through measures such as the Fisheries and Aquaculture Act 2025, the Social Protection Act 2025 and the Affirmative Action (Gender Equity) Act 2024.
However, it stressed that laws and policies alone would not be enough without effective implementation, sustained political commitment, and genuine community participation.
The Working Group is expected to submit a comprehensive report on its findings and recommendations to the United Nations Human Rights Council in September 2026.
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe
Reporter: Eric Appah Marfo