IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfpoli/v36y2011i2p108-118.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Non-farm work and food security among farm households in Northern Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Owusu, Victor
  • Abdulai, Awudu
  • Abdul-Rahman, Seini

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of non-farm work on household income and food security among farm households in the Northern Region of Ghana. We analyze the impact by employing propensity score matching method that accounts for self-selection bias. The matching results show that participation in non-farm work exerts a positive and statistically significant effect on household income and food security status, supporting the widely held view that income from non-farm work is crucial to food security and poverty alleviation in rural areas of developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Owusu, Victor & Abdulai, Awudu & Abdul-Rahman, Seini, 2011. "Non-farm work and food security among farm households in Northern Ghana," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 108-118, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:36:y:2011:i:2:p:108-118
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306-9192(10)00095-3
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Canagarajah, S. & Newman, C. & Bhattamishra, R., 2001. "Non-farm income, gender, and inequality: evidence from rural Ghana and Uganda," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 405-420, August.
    2. Kostas Stamoulis & Alberto Zezza, 2003. "A Conceptual Framework for National Agricultural, Rural Development, and Food Security Strategies and Policies," Working Papers 03-17, Agricultural and Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO - ESA).
    3. Gladwin, Christina H. & Thomson, Anne M. & Peterson, Jennifer S. & Anderson, Andrea S., 2001. "Addressing food security in Africa via multiple livelihood strategies of women farmers," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 177-207, April.
    4. Thomas Reardon & Eric Crawford & Valerie Kelly, 1994. "Links Between Nonfarm Income and Farm Investment in African Households: Adding the Capital Market Perspective," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 76(5), pages 1172-1176.
    5. Reardon, Thomas, 1997. "Using evidence of household income diversification to inform study of the rural nonfarm labor market in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 735-747, May.
    6. Hujer, Reinhard & Caliendo, Marco & Thomsen, Stephan L., 2004. "New evidence on the effects of job creation schemes in Germany--a matching approach with threefold heterogeneity," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 257-302, December.
    7. Marco Caliendo & Sabine Kopeinig, 2008. "Some Practical Guidance For The Implementation Of Propensity Score Matching," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 31-72, February.
    8. Jalan, Jyotsna & Ravallion, Martin, 2003. "Estimating the Benefit Incidence of an Antipoverty Program by Propensity-Score Matching," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 21(1), pages 19-30, January.
    9. DiPrete, Thomas A. & Gangl, Markus, 2004. "Assessing bias in the estimation of causal effects: Rosenbaum bounds on matching estimators and instrumental variables estimation with imperfect instruments," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Labor Market Policy and Employment SP I 2004-101, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    10. Haggblade, Steven & Hazell, P. B. R. & Reardon, Thomas, 2002. "Strategies for stimulating poverty-alleviating growth in the rural nonfarm economy in developing countries," EPTD discussion papers 92, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    11. Junior Davis, 2005. "The rural non-farm economy, Livelihoods and their," Development and Comp Systems 0510016, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Lanjouw, Peter, 2001. "Nonfarm Employment and Poverty in Rural El Salvador," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 529-547, March.
    13. Reardon, Thomas & Berdegue, Julio & Escobar, German, 2001. "Rural Nonfarm Employment and Incomes in Latin America: Overview and Policy Implications," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 395-409, March.
    14. Millimet, Daniel L. & Tchernis, Rusty, 2008. "Minimizing Bias in Selection on Observables Estimators When Unconfoundness Fails," IZA Discussion Papers 3632, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    15. Norcliffe, Glen, 1983. "Operating characteristics of rural non-farm enterprises in Central Province, Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 11(11), pages 981-994, November.
    16. Smith, Lisa C. & Wiesmann, Doris, 2007. "Is food insecurity more severe in South Asia or Sub-Saharan Africa?: A comparative analysis using household expenditure survey data," IFPRI discussion papers 712, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    17. Millimet, Daniel L. & Tchernis, Rusty, 2008. "Minimizing Bias in Selection on Observables Estimators When Unconfoundness Fails," IZA Discussion Papers 3632, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Holden, Stein & Shiferaw, Bekele & Pender, John, 2004. "Non-farm income, household welfare, and sustainable land management in a less-favoured area in the Ethiopian highlands," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 369-392, August.
    19. Guido W. Imbens & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2009. "Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 5-86, March.
    20. Abdulai, Awudu & CroleRees, Anna, 2001. "Determinants of income diversification amongst rural households in Southern Mali," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 437-452, August.
    21. Ann Whitehead, 2006. "Persistent poverty in North East Ghana," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 278-300.
    22. Awudu Abdulai & Christopher L. Delgado, 1999. "Determinants of Nonfarm Earnings of Farm-Based Husbands and Wives in Northern Ghana," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 81(1), pages 117-130.
    23. Sascha O. Becker & Andrea Ichino, 2002. "Estimation of average treatment effects based on propensity scores," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 2(4), pages 358-377, November.
    24. Liane Faltermeier & Awudu Abdulai, 2009. "The impact of water conservation and intensification technologies: empirical evidence for rice farmers in Ghana," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 40(3), pages 365-379, May.
    25. Rajeev H. Dehejia & Sadek Wahba, 2002. "Propensity Score-Matching Methods For Nonexperimental Causal Studies," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(1), pages 151-161, February.
    26. Barrett, C. B. & Reardon, T. & Webb, P., 2001. "Nonfarm income diversification and household livelihood strategies in rural Africa: concepts, dynamics, and policy implications," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 315-331, August.
    27. Heckman, James J. & Lalonde, Robert J. & Smith, Jeffrey A., 1999. "The economics and econometrics of active labor market programs," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 31, pages 1865-2097, Elsevier.
    28. Chang, Hung-Hao & Mishra, Ashok, 2008. "Impact of off-farm labor supply on food expenditures of the farm household," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 657-664, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dil Bahadur Rahut & Khondoker Abdul Mottaleb & Akhter Ali, 2018. "Rural Livelihood Diversification Strategies and Household Welfare in Bhutan," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 30(4), pages 718-748, September.
    2. Adugna, Lemi, 2009. "Determinants of Income Diversification in Rural Ethiopia: evidence From Panel Data," Ethiopian Journal of Economics, Ethiopian Economics Association, vol. 18(1), pages 116-116, December.
    3. Md.Salamun Rashidin & Sara Javed & Bin Liu & Wang Jian, 2020. "Ramifications of Households’ Nonfarm Income on Agricultural Productivity: Evidence From a Rural Area of Pakistan," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(1), pages 21582440209, January.
    4. Unai Pascual & Edward Barbier, 2005. "On- and off-farm labor decisions by slash-and-burn farmers in Yucatan (Mexico)," Environmental Economy and Policy Research Working Papers 06.2005, University of Cambridge, Department of Land Economics, revised 2005.
    5. Bezu, Sosina & Barrett, Christopher B., 2010. "Activity Choice in Rural Non-farm Employment (RNFE): Survival versus accumulative strategy," MPRA Paper 55034, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Adugna Lemi, "undated". "The Dynamics of Income Diversification in Ethiopia: Evidence from Panel data," Working Papers 3, University of Massachusetts Boston, Economics Department.
    7. Gamel Abdul-Nasser Salifu, 2019. "The Political Economy Dynamics of Rural Household Income Diversification: A Review of the International Literature," Research in World Economy, Research in World Economy, Sciedu Press, vol. 10(3), pages 273-290, December.
    8. Junior Davis & Dirk Bezemer, 2005. "Key emerging and conceptual issues in the development of the rural non-farm economy in developing countries and transition economies," Development and Comp Systems 0510017, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Almeida, Alexandre N. & Bravo-Ureta, Boris E., 2019. "Agricultural productivity, shadow wages and off-farm labor decisions in Nicaragua," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 99-110.
    10. Dan Pan, 2014. "The Impact of Agricultural Extension on Farmer Nutrient Management Behavior in Chinese Rice Production: A Household-Level Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(10), pages 1-22, September.
    11. Corral, Paul & Radchenko, Natalia, 2017. "What’s So Spatial about Diversification in Nigeria?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 231-253.
    12. Liane Faltermeier & Awudu Abdulai, 2009. "The impact of water conservation and intensification technologies: empirical evidence for rice farmers in Ghana," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 40(3), pages 365-379, May.
    13. Abebaw, Degnet & Haile, Mekbib G., 2013. "The impact of cooperatives on agricultural technology adoption: Empirical evidence from Ethiopia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 82-91.
    14. Jones A.M & Rice N, 2009. "Econometric Evaluation of Health Policies," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 09/09, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    15. Paul Nkegbe & Abdelkrim Araar & Benjamin Abu & Yazidu Ustarz & Hamdiyah Alhassan & Edinam Dope Setsoafia & Shamsia Abdul-Wahab, 2018. "Rural Non-Farm Engagement and Agriculture Commercialization in Ghana: Complements or Competitors?," Working Papers PMMA 2018-07, PEP-PMMA.
    16. Erhardt, Eva, 2017. "Microfinance beyond self-employment: Evidence for firms in Bulgaria," MPRA Paper 79294, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Crinò, Rosario, 2012. "Imported inputs and skill upgrading," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 957-969.
    18. Olale, Edward & Henson, Spencer J. & Cranfield, John A.L., 2010. "Determinants of Income Diversification among Fishing Communities in Western Kenya," Annual Meeting, 2010, Denver Colorado, July 25-27 61259, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society.
    19. Dil Bahadur Rahut Chhetri & Pradyot Ranjan Jena & Akhter Ali & Bhagirath Behera & Nar Bahadur Chhetri, 2015. "Rural Nonfarm Employment, Income, and Inequality: Evidence from Bhutan," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 32(2), pages 65-94, September.
    20. Bezu, Sosina & Barrett, Christopher B. & Holden, Stein T., 2012. "Does the Nonfarm Economy Offer Pathways for Upward Mobility? Evidence from a Panel Data Study in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(8), pages 1634-1646.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:36:y:2011:i:2:p:108-118. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/foodpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.