Towards meeting the food needs of urban households in sub-Saharan Africa: an analysis of formal sector employees’ participation in agricultural production in urban Wa, Ghana

Abstract

This paper examines formal sector employees’ choices of urban agriculture (UA) practices and their implications for sustainable food supply in sub-Saharan Africa’s urban landscape with specific reference to urban Wa, Ghana. A cross-sectional survey research design was adopted with questionnaires as the main data collection instrument. A total of 364 formal sector employees were randomly selected from four public sector institutions in urban Wa. The multinomial logit regression was employed to analyse the factors determining formal sector employees’ choices of urban agriculture practices. The findings show that only 37.9% of formal sector employees contacted participate in UA in the form of food crops and/or animal production. Employees within the Teacher and Education Directorate engage more in UA than those from other sectors. The likelihood of a formal sector employee choosing food crop production and/or animal production is influenced by household size, household income, average household expenditure and farm income. The findings underscore the need for policy attention on formal sector employees’ increased participation in UA as it contributes significantly to food supply and improved wellbeing of households. The study recommends that the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) should encourage and support formal sector employees to embrace at least one, but preferably both, of Ghana’s current agricultural sector policies: Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), Rearing for Food and Jobs (RFJ) and Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) for increased and sustained food production in Ghana’s urban communities. The study broadly contributes to the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal 2—Zero Hunger in developing countries.