Food security in the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority Zone of Ghana: an ordered probit with household hunger scale approach

Abstract

Abstract Background Food security has been observed to be severe in northern Ghana than any other area of the country. Though this has been acknowledged, few attempts have been made to curb the situation. One of such intervention areas resides in providing policy-based evidence to guide efforts in fighting this problem. This study employs an ordered probit model using data set from the baseline survey of the USAID’s Feed the Future programme in Ghana to estimate the determinants of food security in northern Ghana. We perform the analysis using a new indicator of food security—the household hunger scale. This measure is different from other household food insecurity indicators since it has been specifically developed and validated for cross-cultural use. Results The estimates show that crop producers, multiple crop producers, yield and commercialization are key policy variables that determine food security. A key policy implication of this result is in tandem with one of the intermediate results of the Ghana Feed the Future Initiative which seeks to increase competitiveness of food value chains through increased productivity and market access. Conclusions Based on the results, stakeholders should step up efforts to enhance productivity of farm households and provide necessary market infrastructure to boost commercialization, as these are fundamental to ensuring food security.

Keywords

• Food security
• Household hunger scale
• Cross-sectional data
• Ordered probit
• Ghana