Presentation short abstract

We explore how gendered land tenure pathways shape agroecological transitions and socio-ecological interactions. Drawing on participatory field evidence, the study examines how land rights, access, and power relations influence farmers’ capacity to rework ecologies toward agrarian sustainability.

Presentation long abstract

This presentation examines how land tenure relations and gendered rights determine pathways of agroecological transition within smallholder mixed farming systems. While agroecology is increasingly recognized as a transformative approach to sustainable food systems, its realization is inherently embedded in existing access and property regimes and social hierarchies. Situating the theory of access in a socio-ecological intersectionality lens, the study explores how men and women farmers negotiate access to land, resources, and ecological knowledge to rework production systems amid climate and socio-economic pressures. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative evidence from Ghana, the analysis reveals how differentiated tenure arrangements, such as family allocation, rental, and customary inheritance, mediate farmers’ capacity to adopt and sustain agroecological practices such as crop rotation, agroforestry, and minimum/zero tillage. It highlights how these arrangements intersect with gender norms and ecological conditions to co-produce uneven outcomes in resilience, agency, and ecological care. By linking rights and responsibilities to the material practices of cultivation, this presentation contributes to understanding agroecological transitions not only as technical or ecological shifts, but as deeply social and political processes of reclaiming rights and reworking ecologies.