Does Participation in Ghana’s Fertilizer Subsidy Program (GFSP) affect multiple dimensions of food security?

Employing two rounds of pooled data from the Ghana Living Standard Survey (GLSS), a sample of 4,355 maize growing households across the former 10 regions of Ghana, the study evaluates the causal effects of participation in Ghana’s Fertilizer Subsidy Program (GFSP) on all the four dimensions of household food security (availability, access, utilization, and stability) for maize growing households. This was done using propensity score matching techniques. The overall average treatment effect of the GFSP is positive and statistically significant for food availability and food access. The GFSP increased maize yield/ Ha between 29 to 34 percent at p < 0.01, among program beneficiaries. For food access, the GFSP increased household consumption expenditure by 37 percent at p < 0.01. The effect of GFSP on the stability dimension of food security was also positive, though weaker statistically against robustness checks. There was, however, negative effect of GFSP on food utilization. The study points out a not-straight forward relationship between participation in the GFSP and household food security, as food availability may not necessarily leads to better utilization or nutrition. The less impressive performance of GFSP on utilization and stability dimensions imply that maize growing households who benefited from the program are still food insecure.