Women’s role of caregiving for under-five children: Implications for dietary diversity and food security in Ghana

Abstract

This study examines the implications of women’s role of caregiving under-five children on household food security. Using two-stage least square instrumental variable estimation, we analyzed cross-sectional data from 305 smallholder farmers from rural areas in Ghana. The results indicate that household characteristics such as size, gender, and marital status also influence household dietary diversity. A government agricultural program that seeks to improve farmers’ income has the potential to improve household dietary diversity. The most important finding is that the women’s role of taking care of under-five children has negative effect on food household dietary diversity and therefore has negative implications for security of the household in rural settings. However, improved income and education mitigate the negative effects of caregiving to children under five on the household food security. A policy implication of the results is that providing nutrition knowledge to women through food security programming is vital to improving household food security and such programmes must also target family planning.