Determinants of Household Food Security in the Sekyere-Afram Plains District of Ghana

Abstract

The study was carried out to assess the determinants of household food security among rural
households in Sekyere-Afram Plains District of Ghana. Data were collected from 100 randomly selected
households through the use of structured questionnaires. Analytical techniques employed included
descriptive statistics to analyze the characteristics of respondent households, and logistic regression
model to examine the determinants of food security among the households surveyed. Among the
variables considered in the model, household size, farm size, off-farm income, credit access, and marital
status were found to significantly influence household food security. Consistent with apriori expectation,
larger households were found to be food insecure compared with households with smaller sizes, ceteris
paribus. Also, consistent with findings from previous empirical studies, farm size, off-farm income and
credit access were found to have significant positive effect on household food security.The study,
therefore, recommended improved access to credit for rural households and diversification of household
economic activities to include off-farm income generating businesses to improve food security at the
household level.