RESEARCH ARTICLE Sustainable employment opportunities for persons with disabilities in Ghana: Exploring perceptions and participation in agriculture Elvis Agyei‐Okyere 1 | William Nketsia 2 | Maxwell Peprah Opoku 3 | Eric Lawer Torgbenu 4 | Beatrice Atim Alupo 5 | Lois Odame 6 1 Department of Planning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana 2 School of Education, University of Western Sydney, Sydney, Australia 3 School of Education, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia 4 Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana 5 Institute of Governance, Humanities and Social Sciences, Pan African University, Yaounde, Cameroon 6 School of Public Service and Governance, Ghana Institute of Management and Professional Administration, Accra, Ghana Correspondence Maxwell Peprah Opoku, School of Education, University of Tasmania, Locked Bag 1307, Launceston, Australia. Email: maxwell.opoku@utas.edu.au Abstract Unemployment and the corollary of poverty among persons with disabilities have been well explored in the literature. As part of its global efforts to eradicate poverty, the United Nations, through its sustainable development goals, has urged countries to create economic opportunities for all persons to participate in income‐generating activities. In Ghana, agriculture has been described as the backbone of the economy and the main source of employment and livelihood for many. However, it appears that policymakers are yet to explore how agriculture could create sustainable employment opportunities for persons with disabilities. This study makes a major contribution to research on the eradication of poverty among persons with disabilities by exploring their participation and experiences in agriculture‐related activities. One‐on‐one interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with 19 persons with disabilities from three communities in a district in Ghana. A recurrent theme was that agriculture was a way through which the Ghanaian government could create employment for persons with disabilities. However, the participants recounted formidable barriers that affect their participation in agriculture: lack of land, funds and farming tools, and negative attitudes. These findings highlight the need for policymakers to engage with persons with disabilities to identify possible ways to assist their participation in agriculture. KEYWORDS agriculture, employment, Ghana, persons with disabilities, poverty 1 | INTRODUCTION It is estimated that about 15% of the world's population lives with some form of disability, a majority of whom live in developing countries (World Health Organization, 2011). Persons with disabilities are commonly understood as those who have long‐term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others (Republic of Ghana, 2006; United Nations, 2007). The type and degree of disability do not only result from bodily or functional impairments but also the contextual factors (environmental and personal factors) with which persons with impairments are confronted. Consequently, proponents of the social model of disability believe that persons with impairments are rendered disabled by society through the erection of environmental barriers that restrict their social participation (Anthony, 2011; Hughes & Paterson, 1997). This view has become a basis through which policymakers are being admonished to appropriate services for persons with disabilities to ensure their equal right to work. Despite strong advocacy for the inclusion of the needs of persons with disabilities in national policies and programmes, they continue to suffer employment‐related and other forms of discrimination (Kassah, Received: 2 October 2018 Revised: 4 November 2018 Accepted: 4 November 2018 DOI: 10.1002/bsd2.43 Bus Strat Dev. 2018;1–9. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/bsd2 1