Policies and programs often aim to improve the affordability of nutritious diets, but existing food price indexes are based on observed quantities that may not meet nutritional goals. To measure changes in the cost of reaching international standards of diet quality, we introduce a new cost of diet diversity index based on the lowest‐cost way to include at least five different food groups as defined by the widely used minimum dietary diversity for women (MDD‐W) indicator and compare that to a Cost of Nutrient Adequacy indicator for the lowest‐cost way to meet estimated average requirements of essential nutrients and dietary energy. We demonstrate application of both indexes using national average monthly prices from two very different sources: an agricultural market information system in Ghana (2009–14) and the data used for national consumer price indexes in Tanzania (2011–15). We find that the cost of diet diversity index for Ghana fluctuated seasonally and since mid‐2010 rose about 10% per year faster than national inflation, due to rising relative prices for fruit, which also drove up the cost of nutrient adequacy. In Tanzania there were much smaller changes in total daily costs, but more adjustment in the mix of food groups used for the least‐cost diet. These methods can show where and when nutritious diets are increasingly (un)affordable, and which nutritional criteria account for the change. These results are based on monthly national average prices, but the method is generalizable to other contexts for monitoring, evaluation, and assessment of changing food environments.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of agricultural credit rationing by formal lenders in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach -This study employed descriptive statistics, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Heckman's two-stage regression model to identify types of rationing faced by farmers and investigate factors that influence agricultural credit rationing by formal financial institutions. Data used in this study are gathered through a survey of 595 farmers in seven districts within Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana. Findings -The result reveals that farmers face three types of rationing. Evidence from the Heckman two-stage models shows that engagement in off farm income generating activities, increase in farm size, positive balances on accounts and commercial orientation of the farmers has the potential to reduce rationing of credit applicants by formal lenders. Practical implications -The results provide information on the factors that need to be considered as important in an attempt to reduce agricultural credit rationing by formal lenders. Originality/value -The value of this study is that farmers would use the results of this study to improve access to required amount of agricultural credit from formal financial institutions. The information would also benefit stakeholders in the agricultural sector, particularly youth in agriculture program organized by Ministry of Food and Agriculture in Ghana as how to improve access to credit and reduce rationing of program participants by formal financial institutions.

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This study estimated the adaptive capacities of farmers to climate change adaptation strategies and their effects on rice production in the Northern Region of Ghana. The adaptive capacities of rice farmers were estimated quantitatively and categorized into high, moderate and low adaptive capacities. Double logarithmic regression model of Cobb-Douglas production function was used to quantity the effects of adaptive capacities of farmers on rice production. On the average, the farmers interviewed are moderately adaptive to climate change. Also, high adaptive farmers obtain nine more bags of 50 kg bag of paddy rice than farmers with low adaptive capacities. Therefore, the more a farmer has the ability to adjust to climate change, the more the number of bags of rice he or she obtains. Rice farmers should be empowered through better extension services in order to attain high adaptive capacity status so as to help them obtain more rice output.

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An economy-wide, multimarket model is applied for Ghana and is used to assess the aggregate economic cost of agricultural soil erosion. To fill a gap in the literature regarding economic cost analysis of soil erosion, this paper also analyzes the poverty implications of land degradation. The model predicts that land degradation reduces agricultural income in Ghana by a total of US$4.2 billion over the period 2006-2015 and the national poverty rate will increase in 2015 by 5.4 percentage points. Moreover, soil loss causes a slowing of poverty reduction over time in the three northern regions, which currently have the highest poverty rates in the country. Sustainable land management (SLM) is the key to reducing agricultural soil loss. The present findings indicate that through the adoption of conventional SLM practices, the declining trend in land productivity can be reversed, and that use of a combination of conventional and modern SLM practices would generate an aggregate economic benefit of US$6.4 billion over the period 2006-2015. SLM practices would therefore substantially reduce poverty in Ghana, particularly in the three northern regions.

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Reaching vulnerable populations in low-resource settings with effective business solutions is critical, given the global nature of food and nutrition security. Over a third of deaths of children under 5 years of age are directly or indirectly caused by undernutrition. The Lancet series on malnutrition (2013) estimates that over 220,000 lives of children under 5 years of age can be saved through the implementation of an infant and young child feeding and care package. A unique project being undertaken in Ghana aims to bring in two elements of innovation in infant and young child feeding. The first involves a public-private partnership (PPP) to develop and test the efficacy and effectiveness of the delivery of a low-cost complementary food supplement in Ghana called KOKO Plus TM . The second involves the testing of the concepts of social entrepreneurship and social business models in the distribution and delivery of the product. This paper shares information on the ongoing activities in the testing of concepts of PPPs, social business, social marketing, and demand creation using different delivery platforms to achieve optimal nutrition in Ghanaian infants and young children in the first 2 years of life. It also focuses on outlining the concept of using PPP and base-of-the-pyramid approaches toward achieving nutrition objectives.