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The Effect of Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture on Household Nutrition and Food Poverty in Northern Ghana

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  • Francis Tsiboe

    (University of Arkansas)

  • Yacob A. Zereyesus

    (Kansas State University)

  • Jennie S. Popp

    (University of Arkansas)

  • Evelyn Osei

    (University of Ghana)

Abstract

The study examines the effect of women’s empowerment in agriculture on household nutrition—i.e. the availability of carbohydrates, protein, and fat—and household food poverty measured by monetary food shortfall. The analysis is done by applying instrumental variable estimation to a sample of 2642 households from a 2012 population-based survey conducted in northern Ghana. Overall, the results indicate that women’s empowerment positively influences nutrient availability and negatively influences monetary food shortfall. By decomposing women’s empowerment into its component domains, this study identified that the domains of Income, Production, and Leadership are areas for intervention to influence households’ nutrient availability and monetary food shortfall outcomes. The effect of the Time and Resources domains reveal that some intra-household trade-offs may exist. Thus, policies aimed at empowering women to ultimately improve household nutrition and food poverty need to be based on the understanding of these specific interactions.

Suggested Citation

  • Francis Tsiboe & Yacob A. Zereyesus & Jennie S. Popp & Evelyn Osei, 2018. "The Effect of Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture on Household Nutrition and Food Poverty in Northern Ghana," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 138(1), pages 89-108, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:138:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s11205-017-1659-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-017-1659-4
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    2. Lumet, Kenedy & Gitau, Raphael & Owuor, George, 2022. "The influence of women’s empowerment on poverty reduction: A case of smallholder sugarcane farmers in western Kenya," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 17(3), September.
    3. Sajeda Pervin & Mohammad Nazari Ismail & Abu Hanifa Md Noman, 2023. "Does Microfinance Singlehandedly Empower Women? A Case Study of Bangladesh," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(2), pages 21582440221, May.
    4. Gloria Essilfie & Joshua Sebu & Josephine Baako-Amponsah, 2024. "Does Women’s Empowerment Matter for Household Food Security? Evidence From Northern Ghana," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(2), pages 21582440241, May.
    5. Alice Sims & Paige van der Pligt & Preethi John & Jyotsna Kaushal & Gaganjot Kaur & Fiona H McKay, 2021. "Food Insecurity and Dietary Intake among Rural Indian Women: An Exploratory Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-11, May.
    6. Aziz, Noshaba & Nisar, Qasim Ali & Koondhar, Mansoor Ahmed & Meo, Muhammad Saeed & Rong, Kong, 2020. "Analyzing the women’s empowerment and food security nexus in rural areas of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan: By giving consideration to sense of land entitlement and infrastructural facilities," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    7. Azka Rehman & Qing Ping & Amar Razzaq, 2019. "Pathways and Associations between Women’s Land Ownership and Child Food and Nutrition Security in Pakistan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-18, September.
    8. Qian Sun & Xiaoyun Li & Dil Bahadur Rahut, 2021. "Gender Differences in Nutritional Intake among Rural-Urban Migrants in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-17, September.

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