Towards meeting the food needs of urban households in sub-Saharan Africa: an analysis of formal sector employees’ participation in agricultural production in urban Wa, Ghana

Figures & data

Figure 1. Formal sector employees choice of UA practices.

Figure 2. Map of Wa Municipality. Source: Adapted from Ghana Statistical Service (2014).

Table 1. Proportionate distribution of respondents.

Department	Raw number	Proportion	Number selected
RCC	104	$\frac{104}{3980}\times 364$	10
Municipal Assembly	179	$\frac{179}{3980}\times 364$	16
MAD	86	$\frac{86}{3980}\times 364$	8
Teachers/Education	3611	$\frac{3611}{3980}\times 364$	330
Total	3980		364

Table 2. Definition and measurement of variables.

Variable	Definition	Unit of measurement	Sign
Dependent variable
$P_{\mathit{\text{ij}}}$	Participation in agricultural activity	Categorical (participation in agricultural activity j then 1; else 0)
Independent variables
MARRIED	Marital status	Dummy (If male then 1; else 0)	+/−
AGE	Respondent’s age	Years	+/−
YTH	Youth	Dummy (If youth then 1; else 0)	+/−
HSIZE	Household size	Number of people in the household	+/−
INCOM	Income level	Monthly earnings	+/−
LAND	Ease of getting land	1 = easy; 0 = otherwise	+/−
CREDIT	Access to agric information	1 = have access; 0 = otherwise	+/−
EXPEND	Average expenditure	Average expenditure (GH¢)	+/−
FRM-INCOME	Farm income	Annual farm income (GH¢)	+/−

Source: Author’s Construct, 2022.

Table 3. Socio-demographic characteristics of respondents (N = 364).

	Frequency	Percentage
Age of respondent
19–30	56	15.4
31–40	207	56.9
41–50	73	20.0
51–60	24	6.6
61+	4	1.1
Sex of respondent
Male	256	70.3
Female	108	29.7
Educational qualification
JSS/JHS	16	4.4
SSS/SHS	12	3.3
Tertiary	336	92.3
Marital status
Single	96	26.4
Married	267	73.4
Widow	1	0.3
Religion
Islam	190	52.2
Christianity	174	47.8
Household size
1–5 members	73	20.1
6–10 members	185	50.8
11+ members	106	29.1

Table 4. Relationship of socio-demographic variables with respondents’ choice of UA practice.

Participation in urban agriculture			Frequency				Percentage
Yes			138				37.9
No			226				62.1
Gender		Participate in UA						Total
		No			Yes
Female		83 (76.9%)			25 (23.1%)			108 (100.0%)
Male		143 (55.9%)			113 (44.1%)			256 (100.0%)
Total		226 (62.1%)			138 (37.9%)			364 (100.0%)
Choice of UA		Gender						Total
		Female			Male
Food crop farming		16 (21.0%)			60 (78.9%)			76 (100.0%)
Animal farming		4 (18.2%)			18 (81.8%)			22 (100.0%)
Food crop and animal farming		5 (12.5%)			35 (87.5%)			40 (100.0%)
Total		25 (18.1%)			113 (81.95)			138 (100.0%)
Choice of UA	Name of department							Total
	Trs/Edu. directorate	RCC		MAD		Mun. assembly
Food crop farming	63 (82.9%)	3 (3.9%)		4 (5.3%)		6 (7.9%)		76 (100.0%)
Animal farming	18 (81.8%)	0 (0.0%)		0 (0.0%)		4 (18.2%)		22 (100.0%)
Food crop and animal farming	34 (85.0%)	0 (0.0%)		4 (10.0%)		2 (5.0%)		40 (100.0%)
Total	115 (83.3%)	3 (2.2%)		8 (5.8%)		12 (8.7%)		138 (100.0%)

Table 5. Multinomial Logit estimates of formal sector employees’ choice of urban agricultural production.

Variable	Crop farming			Animal Production			Marginal Effects
	Coeff	Std error	p-Value	Coeff	Std error	p-Value
Married	0.0123	0.9202	0.989	0.5454	1.1567	0.637	0.0402
Ease of getting land	−0.0760	0.6988	0.913	0.7709	0.7955	0.332	−0.0576
Youth	−0.6519	0.9163	0.477	0.7440	1.1051	0.501	−0.2069
Credit	0.4417	0.6322	0.485	0.1668	0.6756	0.805	0.1005
Household income	−0.0008	0.000	0.075*	−0.000	0.0002	0.719	−0.0002
Formal work load	−0.3706	0.6043	0.540	−0.0218	0.6984	0.975	−0.0910
Age	0.0165	0.0650	0.799	.0.0808	0.0814	0.321	−0.0005
Household size	−0.1177	0.0942	0.211	−0.5683	0.1952	0.004***	0.0035
Average expenditure	0.0079	0.0017	0.000***	−0.0032	0.0015	0.031**	0.0021
Farm income	−.0039	0.0007	0.000***	0.0006	0.0003	0.091*	−0.0010
Constance	3.9044	2.8576	0.172	−1.0758	3.4316	0.754

Number of obs = 138, LR chi2(20) = 115.82, Prob > chi2 = 0.000, Log likelihood = −77.358, Pseudo R² = 0.428,d = −77.358, Pseudo R² = 0.428. ***, **, * = significant at 1%, 5% and 10%.

Table 6. Descriptive statistics and Kendall’s W on challenges formal sector employees face in participating in UA.

Challenges	Descriptive statistics			Ranking
Variable	Std. dev	Min	Max	Mean rank	Rank
Poor rainfall	2.124	1	17	1.83	1
Pest and diseases	0.807	1	7	2.11	2
Poor soil/high fertilizer usage	0.968	1	6	4.01	3
Exorbitant tractor services	3.557	1	19	4.52	4
Limited veterinary services	4.964	1	19	7.14	5
Limited extension services	1.891	1	16	7.17	6
Theft	2.601	1	14	7.70	7
Lack of irrigated fields	5.121	1	18	7.81	8
Activities of Fulani herdsmen	3.951	1	19	10.61	9
Land litigation	4.371	1	19	11.44	10
Bush fire	3.964	4	18	11.63	11
Land tenure	4.905	1	19	12.63	12
Inadequate time	3.163	3	18	13.50	13
Poor access roads	4.455	4	19	14.10	14
Information asymmetry	4.066	4	19	14.17	15
Anticipated transfers (anxiety)	3.190	5	19	14.24	16
High water and electricity bills	3.796	2	19	14.58	17
Untimely release of inputs	2.899	5	19	15.37	18
Limited access to credit	2.417	6	19	15.43	19

N = 138. Kendall’s W = 0.679, Chi-Square = 1686.6, df = 18, Asymp Sig = 000.

Ghana Statistical Service. (2014). 2010 Population and housing census: district analytical report: Wa Municipality. GSS.

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