Assessing the Degree of Food Insecurity among Farming Households: Evidence from the Central Region of Ghana

Abstract

This study seeks to determine the level of food insecurity among farming household in the Central Region of Ghana. A multistage sampling technique was used to select the respondents that were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. In all 240 households were interviewed for the study (i.e., 120 farming households in each of the Forest Communities and Coastal Communities). Data was obtained from 1690 individuals for the analysis of the food security status of the households. The empirical results reveal that majority of the respondents were food insecure. Though majority of the households were food insecure, the level of food insecurity was not severe. The months of April and May are the periods in which households experience severe food shortage. The immediate food insecurity coping strategies households adopt when faced with food insecurity are eating less preferred food, food rationing and skipping meal within a day. Most of the food insecurity coping strategies used by farming households are moderate, and only employed to temporarily minimize the impact of food insecurity. These results have implications for agricultural food policy in developing countries.

Key words: Food insecurity, farming households, copping strategies, Ghana