Cash crops and food security: evidence from smallholder cocoa and cashew farmers in Ghana

Abstract Background Food security is a major development concern worldwide. The use of arable lands to grow cash crops raises additional concerns, yet empirical evidence on the relationship between cash cropping and food security remains inconclusive. Using survey data from 408 randomly sampled households, this paper assesses the income and food security implications of reviving cocoa farming in the Forest-Savannah Transition Zone of Ghana. In addition, the paper examines the influence of socioeconomic factors and diversification into cashew on the food security of cocoa households. Data was collected from 12 rural communities, where food crop production was the main source of livelihood. A causal-comparative design was used. Food security was measured using the USDA Food Security Core Module. Results Contrary to the literature that cash crops undermine food security, findings indicate a positive relationship between cocoa farming, household crop income and food security, highlighting complementarities between cocoa, food crop and cashew production. Although income from cocoa alone was not sufficient enough to guarantee food security, it enhanced the financial ability of farmers to diversify into cashew and expand food crop production. This minimised market dependency for food staples, enhanced annual crop income, and ensured a continuous flow of income. Overall, the food security advantage of cocoa farming was predicted by diversification into cashew, displacement of food crops using cocoa, socioeconomic factors, such as land ownership, livestock ownership, and formal education; and marginally by total annual crop income. Conclusions Income from cocoa alone is not high enough and widely distributed to guarantee food security. Reinvesting the returns from cocoa in cashew and food crops seems to be a more reliable pathway to enhancing food security than merely depending on the income to buy food. A semi-subsistence system that ensures optimum combination of cash and food crops is, therefore, recommended, but this may require sufficient access to land.