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Table 3 Description, measurement and statistics of explanatory variables

From: Food security in the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority Zone of Ghana: an ordered probit with household hunger scale approach

Description/variable Measurement Meana SD
Socioeconomic characteristics
Age of household head (AGE) Number of years 44.40 16.39
Gender of household head (GEN) Dummy: 1 = if male; 0 = otherwise 82.38%  
Educational level of household head (EDUC) Number of years in school 2.14 4.71
Marital status of household head (MARST) Dummy: 1 = if married; 0 = otherwise 79.50%  
Household size (HHSIZE) Number of people in household 5.65 3.35
Ownership of private means of transport (MTRANS) Dummy: 1 = if yes; 0 = otherwise 73.30%  
Ownership of farm mechanized equipment (FRMEQ) Dummy: 1 = if yes; 0 = otherwise 2.27%  
Ownership of farm non-mechanized equipment (FRNMEQ) Dummy: 1 = if yes; 0 = otherwise 77.99%  
Food and consumption characteristics
Yield index of maize, rice and soya (YIELD)b Output index/farm size (kg/ha) 438.27 498.49
Household commercialization index (HCI) Percentage 21.25 29.36
Production of crops (CPRDN) Dummy: 1 = if yes; 0 = otherwise 74.12%  
Production of multi crops (MLTCRP) Dummy: 1 = multi-crop; 0 = otherwise 36.98%  
Ownership of agricultural land (ALAND) Dummy: 1 = if yes; 0 = otherwise 83.17%  
Ownership of poultry (PLTRY) Dummy: 1 = if yes; 0 = otherwise 60.45%  
Ownership of small animals (SANIM) Dummy: 1 = if yes; 0 = otherwise 55.74%  
Ownership of large animals (LANIM) Dummy: 1 = if yes; 0 = otherwise 21.54%  
Total weekly food consumption expenditure (FEXP) Ghana cedi 70.08 110.78
Total weekly non-food consumption expenditure (NFCEXP) Ghana cedi 370.66 833.97
Institutional and location characteristics
Locality of residence (LOC) Dummy: 1 = if rural; 0 = otherwise 73.92%  
Region of household (REG_NR) Dummy: 1 = if Northern; 0 = otherwise 62.45%  
Region of household (REG_UW) Dummy: 1 = if Upper West; 0 = otherwise 6.39%  
Region of household (REG_UE) Dummy: 1 = if Upper East; 0 = otherwise 17.89%  
Region of household (REG_BA) Dummy: 1 = if Brong Ahafo; 0 = otherwise 13.27%  
Access to cash credit (CCRED) Dummy: 1 = if yes; 0 = otherwise 27.02%  
  1. aFor dummy variables, the values under the “mean” column describe the proportion possessing the attribute; b Maize, rice and soya are strategic crops identified by the Feed the Future (FtF) Initiative as having the potential to alleviate poverty and improve food security. Unfortunately, only 9.7% of the sample produced all three crops at baseline. To use only such individuals, means over 90% of the total sample will be dropped. To avoid such large attrition, the outputs of these crops are converted into kilograms and then combined to give a composite output index for each household in kilograms. Farm size is measured in hectares. Thus, yield index is in kg/ha
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Agriculture & Food Security

ISSN: 2048-7010