Abstract:
Food self-sufficiency has been an important policy objective of many nations,
including Ghana. Its importance as a policy priority has diminished over time, as
food security became a more appealing policy orientation. Self-sufficiency
suggests that a nation produces at least all its food needs, while food security
implies the availability and physical access to food by the population, irrespec-
tive of whether or not it is produced within the country (Thomson and Metz,
1998). At the household level, economic rationality suggests that resources
should be allocated optimally to the production of commodities for which returns
are highest. Income generated from trading these commodities could then be
used to purchase other food needs. If agricultural diversification is defined as the
increasing allocation of household resources to the production of non-staples
relative to food staples, then households would diversify, given that the returns
to land and labour are higher for the production of non-staples than for food
staples (Fafchamps, 1992; von Braun, 1994; Goletti, 1999; Govereh and
Jayne, 2003; Joshi et al., 2003; Weinberger and Lumpkin, 2007; Shome,
2009). But it is documented that many farm households, particularly in sub-
Saharan Africa (SSA), are subsistent or semi-subsistent producers, which implies
an inclination towards self-sufficiency in food production (de Janvry et al., 1991;
Finkelshtain and Chalfant, 1991; Fafchamps, 1992; Jayne, 1994; von Braun,
1994, 1995; Govereh and Jayne, 2003; Di Falco and Chavas, 2009).
