Introduction
Literature review
Food security and dietary diversity
Conceptual framework
Methods
Location of the study area
Research design
Data collection
Semi-structured questionnaires analysis
Dietary diversity and food security status analysis
Variables affecting crop diversification
Respondents’ in-depth interviews analysis
Results
Respondent’s socio-economic characteristics
Socio-economic variables | Valid frequency | Valid percent (%) | Mean | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Sex | Female | 79 | 39.5 | 0.61 |
Male | 121 | 60.5 | ||
Age | between 25 and 45 | 44 | 22 | 56.14 |
between 46 and 66 | 117 | 58.5 | ||
above 67 | 39 | 19.5 | ||
Education | Primary | 20 | 10 | 0.68 |
JHS/Form 4 | 53 | 26.5 | ||
SSS/O or A-level | 27 | 13.5 | ||
Tertiary | 35 | 17.5 | ||
No formal education | 65 | 32.5 | ||
Marital status | Married | 148 | 74 | 0.76 |
Single | 8 | 4 | ||
Divorced | 14 | 7 | ||
Widow/widower | 30 | 15 | ||
Household size | between 1 and 5 | 55 | 27.5 | 8.14 |
between 6 and 10 | 98 | 49 | ||
above 10 | 47 | 23.5 | ||
Cocoa cooperation membership | No | 43 | 21.5 | 0.79 |
Yes | 157 | 78.5 | ||
Cropland conversion to cocoa | No | 37 | 18.5 | 0.81 |
Yes | 163 | 81.5 | ||
Credit access | No | 59 | 29.5 | 0.70 |
Yes | 141 | 70.5 | ||
Access to extension officers | No | 26 | 13 | 0.87 |
Yes | 174 | 87 | ||
Total household income | less than 10,000 | 105 | 52.5 | 1.82 |
Between 10,000 and 30,000 | 26 | 13 | ||
Above 30,000 | 69 | 34.5 | ||
Household heads’ perception | ||||
Cocoa expansion affects crop diversification | No | 19 | 9.5 | 0.90 |
Yes | 181 | 90.5 |
Distribution of dietary diversity and food security pattern among cocoa household heads in the Juaboso-Bia cocoa landscape
“We eat vegetable stew with cassava, yam, cocoyam, and maize most of the time because it is our basic diet. I grow these foods on my family farm, so I don’t always have to buy them. I get these food items from the market when I run out because they are inexpensive”(Key informant interview, 23 January 2023).
“I never really consider the meats or eggs (quality) in the meals I offer to my kids because I’m always more concerned about the quantity. We can buy a lot of cassava or maize and that will provide us with enough food to last us for approximately a month with the money that will be used to purchase meats, milk, eggs, fruits, and legumes. These food groups are extremely expensive to buy here on the market, and they won’t even satisfy my kids as much as local cereals and roots/tubers do”(Key informant interview, 20 January 2023).
Household dietary diversity status | Gender | |
---|---|---|
Female | Male | |
Low dietary diversity (0–4) | 60.8% | 37.2% |
Medium dietary diversity (5–8) | 19% | 30.6% |
High dietary diversity (9–12) | 20.2% | 32.2% |
Total | 100% | 100% |
Food security status and gender cross tabulation | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Food security status | Gender | ||||
Male | Female | ||||
Secure | 47.9% | 29.1% | |||
Insecure | 52.1% | 70.9% | |||
Total | 100% | 100% | |||
Chi-Square Tests Statistics | |||||
Value | df | Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) | Exact Sig. (2-sided) | Exact Sig. (1-sided) | |
Pearson Chi-Square | 9.575a | 1 | 0.002 | ||
Continuity Correctionb | 8.691 | 1 | 0.003 | ||
Likelihood Ratio | 9.774 | 1 | 0.002 | ||
Fisher’s Exact Test | 0.002 | 0.001 | |||
Linear-by-Linear Association | 9.527 | 1 | 0.002 | ||
Number of Valid Cases | 200 |
Food unavailability experience of male and female-headed cocoa households
Food unavailability experience | Gender | |
---|---|---|
Female | Male | |
Yes | 83.5% | 66.1% |
No | 16.5% | 33.9% |
Total | 100% | 100% |
“When the rainy season approaches, especially in June and July, I am really frightened because the rains are exceptionally heavy and threaten to destroy my food crops. Also, the food I store for the rainy season is consumed quickly, causing my family to eat fewer meals each day. We occasionally go without food to eat. My home experiences food shortages throughout the dry season in December to March because the weather is so dry that the crops are unable to flourish” (Key informant interview, 20 January 2023).
Sources of staple food, accessibility to food, food production status, and dietary diversity nexus among cocoa household heads
Sources of staple food | Gender | |
---|---|---|
Female | Male | |
Self-production | 10.1% | 30.6% |
Market | 8.9% | 4.1% |
Self-production and market | 81.0% | 64.5% |
Others | 0% | 0.8% |
Total | 100% | 100% |
Sources of staple food | Dietary diversity status | ||
---|---|---|---|
Low | Medium | High | |
Self-production | 34.4% | 19.3% | 5.5% |
Market | 10.8% | 3.8% | 0% |
Self-production and Market | 53.8% | 76.9% | 94.5% |
Others | 1.0% | 0% | 0% |
Total | 100% | 100% | 100% |
“Hahaha! I cannot cultivate all the food crops in this whole place. So, I grow some staple crops, such as cassava, plantains, cocoyam, tomatoes, garden eggs, and pepper, and buy protein, condiments, and fruits like chicken, meat, milk, fish, and oranges from the market. Thus, supplementing my self-production with goods from the market boosts the quality of diet my household and I consume” (Key informant interview, 26 January 2023).
Food production status | Dietary diversity status | ||
---|---|---|---|
Low | Medium | High | |
Not noticeable | 5.4% | 25% | 1.8% |
Decreased | 94.6% | 55.8% | 5.5% |
Increased | 0% | 19.2% | 92.7% |
Total | 100% | 100% | 100% |
“Over the past 5 years, my household members and I have managed our piece of land very well by practicing sustainable farming methods. We managed to grow cocoa and a variety of food crops on the small land. Because of that, my household eats different diets daily and has enough food always, which has ensured my household’s food and nutrition security” (Key informant interview, 2 February 2023).
Multifaceted themes influencing low dietary diversity and food insecurity in male and female-headed cocoa households in the Juaboso-Bia cocoa landscape
Climate change/ variability
“I remember when I was young, my father used to cultivate a lot of foodstuffs even to the point of selling some to other households. This was because there was an abundant and reliable rainfall pattern. However, in this era, the rains fall unexpectedly and heavily to the extent of destroying most grown crops on my farms. Due to this, my household eats what is available and mostly not rich in vitamins and not a balanced diet” (Key informant interview, 20 January 2023).
“Climate change has resulted in the death of our cocoa trees and food crops since the crops receive too much sunlight hence declining the yields generated from cocoa and food production. Due to the sudden arrival of the rains and dryness, we are currently unsure of what to plant. Even some of our poultries die as a result of excessive heat and do not get to eat their products” (Key informant interview, 22 January 2023).
Poverty
“Hmm!, I have been farming cocoa for almost 3 decades and I cannot boast of eating a well-balanced diet every day. My household only eats starchy foods, such as cassava, plantain, yam, and vegetables, such as tomatoes and garden eggs, because that is what I can afford” (Key informant interview, 26 January 2023).“Sometimes, I feel shy to tell my non-cocoa farmers friends that I have not even eaten chocolate before, and I consume chocolate drinks occasionally. I cannot even feed my household members with cheap food, for example, “abom” (literally means vegetable stew with either yam or cocoyam or cassava) let alone talk of eating fruits, eggs, and meat. Due to traders’ perception that this area is a wealthy cocoa district, these food items are very expensive to purchase. Also, buying modern farm tools, fertilizers, and hiring labor is expensive, which affects our food crop and cocoa production ” (Key informant interview, 2 February 2023).
Unavailable lands
“Currently, we have used all the lands for cocoa production and there is no available land in this district to grow food. I gave up my land for cocoa production to increase the income and food diversity for my family, but that goal was never realized, and now my family is starving and unable to consume cocoa because it is not edible” (Key informant interview, 1 February 2023).
“The government through the forestry commission allocated portions of the off-reserved forest to us to cultivate our food crops some time back. The condition was to replant trees after harvest before shifting to a new place to begin another cultivation. Failure to do so will lead to the prevention of cocoa farmers from entering the off-reserved to grow food crops. Some farmers failed to comply with the condition regardless of the number of warnings given, therefore we were restricted from growing food crops there and this has affected my household food production” (Key informant interview, 26 January 2023).
Large household size
“I have about 10 household members and due to that I barely buy food items rich in vitamins because those food items do not satisfy me and my family. Thus, I regularly buy less expensive food usually starchy food, which is not well rich in vitamins since all my children can eat and get satisfied” (Key informant interview, 31 January 2023).
Gender stereotypes/ beliefs
“Before the demise of my husband, we ate a well-balanced diet almost every day. After his death, the household responsibility has become very heavy for me to feed myself and my children balanced diets. Because I am the head of the family, I am most times denied access to some of the cocoa farms, extension officers, and other resources to increase my cocoa yields, hence boosting my household dietary diversity” (Key informant interview, 24 January 2023).
“I do occasionally find it challenging to give my family a variety of foods to consume every day to grow well and strong, even though I am a man and the leader of my household. This is because some of my male friends point hands at me and call me all sorts of names for having a small land size, being unable to cultivate different crops, and being a cocoa care-taker for other households headed by men” (Key informant interview, 28 January 2023).
Perceptions of the cocoa household heads on the implication of cocoa expansion on crop diversification in the Juaboso-Bia cocoa landscape
Variables | Coefficient | Significance | Odd ratio |
---|---|---|---|
Constant | 4.691 | 0.019 | 108.938 |
Sex (Male) | -0.982 | 0.10* | 0.405 |
Age | -0.041 | 0.196 | 0.960 |
Education status | -0.338 | 0.562 | 0.713 |
Marital status | -1.215 | 0.164 | 0.279 |
Household size | 0.096 | 0.718 | 1.101 |
Cocoa cooperation membership | -0.552 | 0.452 | 0.576 |
Cropland conversion | 1.079 | 0.093* | 2.942 |
Credit access | 0.681 | 0.206 | 1.975 |
Total household income | 0.645 | 0.050** | 1.906 |
Access to extension officers | -1.290 | 0.263 | 0.275 |
Pseudo R2 | 0.71 | ||
-2 Log Likelihood | 85.46 | ||
Significance | 0.007 | ||
Observation | 200 |
“The cocoa has eaten our croplands, so I do not have a variety of food to eat. The land I could have used to grow crops, such as cassava, vegetables, yam, and rice, I have used it to expand my cocoa farm. I believe when we continue to expand cocoa, we will one day wake up with no different kinds of food to consume. Because of this, the prices of foodstuffs on the market are expensive to buy” (Key informant interview, 28 January 2023).
“A few of the cocoa households here do crop diversification. The reason why this has not been achieved is that the cocoa sector is lucrative that is we earn more than cultivating only food crops. I remember when I used to do more food crop farming, I used to find it difficult to get people to come and buy the foodstuffs so most of them ended up spoiling, and that affected my income. Hmm, so I decided to do more cocoa farming, and I earn a lot from it. Regardless, this to a large extent is affecting the variety of diets my household eats” (Key informant interview, 31 January 2023).