The current project aims to deliver a complementary food supplement (Koko Plus) to infants and young children in three districts in Eastern Ghana. We completed a spatially representative survey, using the Simple Spatial Survey Method (S3M) design, two months into the project with the aim of assessing coverage and barriers to coverage early in the program cycle. The S3M approach allowed for fine scale geographical coverage maps and wide-area population-level estimates to be produced. The data presented here are from an S3M sample with d = 8km (i.e. no person lived more than 8 km from a sampling point). A variable geometry sample design was used. This allowed a mixed urban, peri-urban, and rural sample to be taken with a spatial resolution that matched population density. The sample was taken from m = 58 PSUs spread over three administrative districts. The data reported are for n = 971 mother / child pairs in the sample (n = 671 in the 6 - 24 month target group for consumption of the supplement). Overall 64% (95% CI, 58 - 71%), 23% (95% CI, 19 - 27%), and 15% (95% CI, 12% - 19%) of the target group had ever heard of the supplement, ever used the supplement, and used the supplement at least once in the week prior to the survey respectively. These indicators are mapped in Figure 1. The two main reasons for non-consumption in the target group were caregivers' lack of awareness of the product (61%), and perceived lack of need for the product (14%). These results were reported back to the program within two weeks of survey completion to provide a quick feedback loop to guide programming efforts. Grant Funding Source: Study sponsor: USAID
The objective of this paper is to document, assess and characterize the role Ghana’s agriculture has played as a safety net when the urban labor market suffered economic shocks. The study explores how agriculture influences non-agricultural dependent households. Specific attention is given to the implicit value of the informal insurance role that rural households play in supporting family members who lose jobs acquired after migrating to urban areas. The paper analyses Ghanaian agriculture’s social security role in the late 1980s and 1990s. This well documented period in Ghanaian economic literature, coincides with both natural and macro policy shocks and the policy measures taken to cope with the shocks.
Do agroforestry practices help to improve cocoa sustainability in the humid tropics? Although it sometimes tends to be put under the form of an enthusiastic affirmation, is it not a question that still deserves detailed surveys? This question was initially raised in Cote d'Ivoire by some members of the team who developed a methodology combining questionnaires passed with farmers and direct field observations through density squares. This methodology has been applied to the case of the Amenfi central district of the ghanaian western region, which can be considered as an ?intermediate? region between the old cocoa farms in the East and the young ones in the South-West of the country. In these intermediate zones of the country, agroforestry techniques applied during the 20th century and their mastering by farmers were part of their low risk and low costs strategies. They helped to maintain some plant-diversity in the cocoa farms but did not prevent farmers from massively adopting zero shade techniques and massive deforestation, especially in the extreme western region. As found in Cote d'Ivoire, the old shaded cocoa farms are considered by farmers as a thing of the past, very linked to the old amelonado variety that was first introduced. New hybrids sown by farmers, and mostly provided by local research institutions, have been produced under zero shade and high input conditions. The farmers using them tend to reduce shade, even in their old cocoa plots. This paper shows that in the 2000s, farmers need higher returns per hectare and more selective shade to increase the potential of hybrids. This means a much more selective choice of trees than in the past, especially oriented towards trees that have a high value. The idea of rebuilding the old agroforestry pattern is thus a myth. The future of cocoa agroforestry will lie in a commerciallyoriented one, hopefully shored up by some combination with its shade and cocoa protection function. This certainly means a much lower density and number of trees species in the cocoa farm than in the past, hence probably much less biodiversity. This work contributes to identify some of the most promising trees. It also confirms the need to move forward in the legislation field, as more and more farmers do exploit some timber on their own, always with high losses and often at terribly low prices. An absolute prerequisite for any future agroforestry project will thus be opening institutional windows to enable farmers making money with timber, legally and under better technical conditions. (Resume d'auteur)
This scoping study aims to lay a foundation for the introduction and randomized trial of third-party quality certification of infant foods in Ghana. The products whose quality would be certified are the cereal-based complementary foods recommended for infants between 6 and 24 months of age, when healthy growth requires foods of exceptionally high nutrient density and digestibility. These specialized infant foods are needed from the time when the child’s needs outpace the nutrients available in breast milk, to the time when the child can digest sufficient quantities of more commonly-available foods.
The study applies quantile regression to identify determinants of the entire distribution of food expenditure, and quantify their effects amongGhana’s urban household subgroups. The results indicate that among the significant factors the largest effect in descending order havelocation, marital status, education, household composition, age, and income.
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