COMMERCIALIZATION AND HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY AMONG SMALLHOLDER SESAME FARMERS: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM NANDOM MUNICIPALITY, GHANA
Abstract
This paper examines the impact of sesame commercialization on household food security of smallholder farmers in the Nandom Municipality, Ghana. The research design applied was a cross-sectional study, and primary data were obtained from farm households that were involved in sesame production. The research used the Household Commercialization Index (HCI) as a measure of the level of market participation with food security measured by the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS). An Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression framework is used to address the factors that determine the dietary diversity, as well as to evaluate the effects of commercialization and the most crucial socio-economic and institutional factors. The findings show a positive but statistically insignificant effect of commercialization of sesame on the diversity of household diet, suggesting that greater market orientation do not necessarily translate into improved nutritional results. In comparison, house size and availability of extension services also show positive and statistically significant relationships with dietary diversity which highlights the importance of household labor supply and institutional facilitation in enhancing food security. Market distance is determined to have a negative influence, meaning that when one cannot access markets, the opportunities of income and accessing food are also limited. The other variables such as the size of farms and education have positive and insignificant effects. The results highlight the multi-faceted aspect of food security and indicate that the gains of commercialization are contingent on facilitative factors like infrastructure, institutional and household resources allocation choices. The findings suggest that although sesame commercialization can help generate income, its ability to enhance food security depends on such enabling factors as infrastructure improvement, institutional support and effective decisions on household resource allocation
Keywords: Agricultural Commercialization; Sesame Production; Smallholder Farmers; Household Food Security; Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS); Household Commercialization Index (HCI); Ghana.
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