DETERMINANTS OF HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY IN THE UPPER EAST REGION OF GHANA: THE CASE OF FORMAL AND INFORMAL IRRIGATED VEGETABLE FARMING IN THE BOLGATANGA MUNICIPALITY

Abstract

Agriculture which is the mainstay of the economy of the Upper East Region of Ghana is constrained by water availability and suitable production techniques. As a result households in this area are experiencing worsening levels of household food insecurity due to low productivity. Irrigation farming has the potential to reduce the effects of prolonged dry spells, recurrent droughts and the abrupt stop of the rains before the production season ends. Two irrigation systems, namely formal and informal systems were identified for this study. The major tool of enquiry in this study was the questionnaire which was used to collect data from households that were engaged in irrigated vegetable production. Household and farm characteristics were collected using structured questionnaires with the help of AEAs. The main objective of this study was to investigate the determinants of household food security using a logistic regression model. Among the variables considered in the model, access to credit, experience of farmer, type of scheme, quantity of wet season production, household size, age of farmer and marital status were found to significantly influence household food security. The results obtained also indicated that, 45% of households were food secure and 55% were food insecure. The study also revealed that, vegetable production makes a significant contribution to household food security via improving the income of producing household, employment creation and direct access to food. The gross margin analysis was used to compare profitability between the two irrigation system and the results showed that, informal irrigated vegetable farming is more lucrative than the formal irrigation system. Hence, direct measures for improving food security, such as access to informal irrigation scheme and credit to boost production as well as increase in the quantity of wet season production, are likely to become priorities.