Off-farm work and food security status of farming households in Ghana

ABSTRACT

This study assessed the effect of participation in off-farm work on the food security status of farming households in the Northern Region of Ghana. Primary data were solicited from 324 farming households in the Tamale metropolis and Tolon district using semi-structured questionnaires. The treatment effects of both income and food security status were estimated using propensity score matching and double-robust methods. The empirical results suggest that participation in off-farm activities increased household daily calorie consumption. These results have implications for the development of off-farm ventures for the benefit of the farming households.

KEYWORDS:

• Environment (built and natural) - Agriculture, Food security
• Labour and livelihoods - Economics
• Sub-Saharan Africa

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge Bromkamp Foundation Scholarships for Economic Management programmes at University of Ghana and Office of Research Innovation and Development for financially supporting this project, as well as the directors and extension officers at Ministry of Food and Agriculture (Tamale Metropolis and Tolon District) for assistance during the data collection process. Special thanks also go to the farming households for their time and responses to the questionnaire during the data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

John K.M. Kuwornu is an Associate Professor in Agribusiness Management Field of Study at the School of Environment, Resources, and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand.

Evelyn Osei is a Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant at the Monitoring, Evaluation and Technical Support Services, under USAID, Ghana.

Yaw B. Osei-Asare is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, University of Ghana.

Mohamed Porgo is an Assistant Lecturer at the Faculty of Economics at Université Ouaga 2 in Burkina Faso.

ORCID

Mohamed Porgo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7325-3610

Notes

1 The margin of error of the sample was assumed to be 5%.

2 Off-farm work and off-farm activities are used interchangeably in this article.

3 Data were collected in 2014 with reference to the situation in 2013.

4 US$1 = GHS 2.35 on 31 December 2013.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Bromkamp Foundation Scholarships.