IFPRI Datasets on Ghana

× This dataset is the result of a phone survey set up to measure the impact of COVID-19 on rural people in Ghana. As most governments have urged the population to stay at home to slow down the transmission of the disease, the impact of COVID-19 can affect women and men in different ways: as an income shock (directly or indirectly); as a health and caring shock; as a shock of mobility (affecting access to water, food, firewood, schooling); and as a risk of increased domestic conflict and violence. To capture these various effects on household welfare, this phone survey was conducted with (around) 500 individuals randomly drawn from an existing list of phone numbers collected from previous household surveys with an equal proportion of women and men. The same individuals were also interviewed during other rounds to generate a longitudinal panel allowing to analyze the impact of COVID-19 through time.

× This dataset is the result of a phone survey set up to measure the impact of COVID-19 on rural people in Ghana. As most governments have urged the population to stay at home to slow down the transmission of the disease, the impact of COVID-19 can affect women and men in different ways: as an income shock (directly or indirectly); as a health and caring shock; as a shock of mobility (affecting access to water, food, firewood, schooling); and as a risk of increased domestic conflict and violence. To capture these various effects on household welfare, this phone survey was conducted with (around) 500 individuals randomly drawn from an existing list of phone numbers collected from previous household surveys with an equal proportion of women and men. The same individuals were also interviewed during other rounds to generate a longitudinal panel allowing for analysis of the impact of COVID-19 through time.

× Through research and scaling, Africa RISING strives to create opportunities for smallholder farm households to move out of hunger and poverty. However, knowledge about gendered differences in the adoption of intensification practices is still limited and often based on results from quantitative studies only. The evaluation is to gain an in-depth understanding of gender issues surrounding the adoption and sustainability of maize leaf stripping technologies on the household as well as community level. This includes an understanding of intra-household decision-making and labor allocation; access to resources, participation as well as benefit-sharing among male and female households and community members. The data covers basic demographic information, general farm system description, gender and household processes, and market participation of 60 farmers involved in maize leaf stripping in Northern Ghana. The main data generation strategy of this study was focus group discussions.

× This dataset is generated from the research study conducted to understand gender issues surrounding the adoption and sustainability of living mulch technologies at the household as well as community level. The survey was conducted among farmers who were practicing living mulch in Northern Ghana. Data were collected from 77 farmers in 12 communities across six districts from Jan-Feb, 2019. The data collected include demographic information, general farm system description, gender and household processes, and market participation among others. The main data generation strategy of this study was focus group discussions.

× This data is from a study conducted with 960 Ghanaian households to gather citizen perspectives on decentralization in general and specifically on the impacts of Ghana’s devolution of agricultural services, which began in 2012.
The survey is split into 9 survey modules:
1. Sampling (SA) – location information about the region, district, and community where the respondent is based
2. General Information (ID) – basic demographic, educational, household background, and occupational information of respondent
3. Farming & Livestock (FL) – details about household’s farming and livestock activities
4. Agricultural Extension Services (EX) – details about access to, and use of, agriculture or livestock advisory services for the subset of the sample that has agricultural land or has their primary or secondary occupation in agriculture
5. Political and Community Participation (PP) – information about respondent’s degree of participation in collective action and voting, engagement with elected officials, and frequency of access to the news
6. Perspectives on Local Government and Decentralization (LG) - subjective views about how well local government is functioning and preferences for investment in respondent’s community
7. Household Welfare (HW) – questions about the range of assets owned by the respondent’s household, as well as access to major services (e.g. water, electricity, etc.)
8. Access to facilities (AF) – degree of household’s access to public services and facilities, such as health post, market, etc.
9. Final (FI) – enumerator observations

× The dataset contains the data and scripts required to generate the tables and figures in the article titled "Trade-offs and synergies associated with maize leaf stripping within crop-livestock systems in Northern Ghana."

× The Nexus Project is a collaboration between IFPRI and its partners, including national statistical agencies and research institutions. Our aim is to improve the quality of social accounting matrices (SAMs) used for computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling. The Nexus Project develops toolkits and establishes common data standards, procedures, and classification systems for constructing and updating national SAMs. The 2015 Ghana SAM follows the Standard Nexus Structure. The open access version of the Ghana SAM separates domestic production into 42 activities. Factors are disaggregated into labor, agricultural land, and capital. Labor is further disaggregated across three education categories. Representative households are disaggregated by rural and urban areas and by per capita expenditure quintile. The remaining accounts include enterprises, government, taxes, savings-and-investment, and the rest of the word.

This dataset can be downloaded from https://www2.statsghana.gov.gh/nada/index.php/catalog/95 .

× mNutrition was a five-year global initiative supported by the Department for International Development (DFID) between 2013 and 2018, organized by GSMA, implemented by in-country mobile network operators and evaluated by researchers from GAMOS, the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), with the objective of building effective mobile phone-based advisory services for improving nutrition outcomes.
In Ghana, mNutrition was implemented through the Vodafone Farmers Club (VFC) SMS program, and the service offered both agricultural and nutrition information through mobile voice and SMS services in addition to free calls between VFC members to improve the nutritional status of smallholder farmers’ households and to increase their agricultural productivity. To determine the causal effect of the program on dietary diversity and agricultural production, a cluster randomized encouragement design was employed to randomly expose treatment communities to promotional activities to sign up to VFC.
Household interviews were conducted before and after the intervention. Quantitative data-collection took place in the Central Region and Upper West Region of Ghana. At baseline, 3933 households from 207 communities (104 treatment and 103 control) were interviewed. Interviews were conducted with both primary male and female members of the household.

× mNutrition was a five-year global initiative supported by the Department for International Development (DFID) between 2013 and 2018, organized by GSMA, implemented by in-country mobile network operators and evaluated by researchers from GAMOS, the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), with the objective of building effective mobile phone-based advisory services for improving nutrition outcomes.
In Ghana, mNutrition was implemented through the Vodafone Farmers Club (VFC) SMS program, and the service offered both agricultural and nutrition information through mobile voice and SMS services in addition to free calls between VFC members to improve the nutritional status of smallholder farmers’ households and to increase their agricultural productivity. To determine the causal effect of the program on dietary diversity and agricultural production, a cluster randomized encouragement design was employed to randomly expose treatment communities to promotional activities to sign up to VFC.
Household interviews were conducted before and after the intervention. Quantitative data-collection took place in the Central Region and Upper West Region of Ghana. At baseline, 3933 households from 207 communities (104 treatment and 103 control) were interviewed. Of these 3933 households, 3802 households were interviewed at the endline. Interviews were conducted with both primary male and female members of the household.

× This data is from a study conducted with 80 directors of agriculture in Ghana’s Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs). The aim of the survey was to identify how the devolution of agriculture functions to the MMDAs since 2012 has affected their job functions and ability to provide agricultural services to the communities in which they work.

The survey is split into 9 modules:
1. Location (LN) – preliminary characteristics of the location where the DDA is employed; the gender of the respondent is also recorded in this module
2. General Information (ID) – basic demographic and educational background, as well as the length of time the director has served in the MMDA
3. Employment History (EH) – details on the current job, number of previous jobs, district location of previous jobs, job experiences, and aspirations within the civil service
4. Agricultural Planning and Implementation (AP) – questions related to the agricultural planning process within the district
5. Agricultural Budgets and Expenditures (AB) – details on the agricultural budgeting and expenditure process
6. Engagement with the District Assembly (DA) – questions related to directors’ relationship with the other sectoral departments of the MMDA
7. Devolution Transition Process (DT) –details about the 2012 devolution transition process and the perceived challenges and opportunities that emerged from that reform
8. Staffing and Resources (SR) – opinions and perspectives of the directors on the staffing and resource availability in their offices
9. Final Section (FI) – enumerator observations

× This data is from a study conducted on informal food retail in three of Ghana’s cities – Accra, Kumasi and Tamale. The aim of the survey is to gather information on the livelihoods of these traders, the challenges they face, and the governance constraints they encounter, especially those selling different types of food products. Interviews with 1,214 informal food vendors – 474 in Accra, 516 in Kumasi, and 310 in Tamale – across 4-7 markets in each city, allow for a better understanding of the role of informal food vendors as a key component of agricultural transformation and food security, while also examining how their treatment by government officials affects their own food security and their ability to facilitate agricultural transformation. The survey is split into 11 survey modules:
Sampling (SA) – preliminary characteristics of the informal food trader
General Information (ID) – basic demographic, educational and household background information
Employment (EM) – details on current job
Business (BS) – information on business management and the associated fees paid to operate
Taxes and Fees (TX) – range of fees and taxes paid and the benefits received from those payments
Government Engagement (GE) – type and level of interaction between government officials and food traders
Food Safety and Food Security (FS) – awareness of food safety and source of personal food
Service Delivery and Accountability (SD) – services offered in the market and who could best deliver them
Public Participation and Associational Membership (PP) – involvement in different associations and participation in public and community affairs
Household Welfare (HW) – details on household assets and services
Final (FI) – enumerator observations

× Feed shortages during the cropping season constrain to livestock production in small-scale crop-livestock systems in northern Ghana. The effect of stripping the lower leaves of maize at tasseling and silking to feed livestock on grain and stover yields of maize was tested over two years in northern Ghana.

× Groundnut is the most important food and feed crop in West Africa. Grain and fodder yields on farmers field in Ghana are low due to limited use of improved varieties and inappropriate agronomic practices such as low planting densities. An on-farm was conducted over a three-year period to evaluate the effect of plant density on grain and fodder yields of improved groundnut varieties in northern Ghana.

× This dataset was created by re-compiling available open, gender/sex-disaggregated Feed the Future data for Ghana and applying standard processing methods to enhance their accessibility and interoperability. This process entailed the standardization of variable names and labels, the creation of derived socio-economic indicators such as dietary diversity scores, household dependency ratios, and household age and gender composition. This dataset allows researchers to easily use data for Ghana, as well as make cross-country comparisons with other standardized datasets. Moreover, the provision of household GPS coordinates (offset for confidentiality purposes) allows users to match data at different levels. This work combines multi-topic household and community socioeconomic and agricultural surveys with biophysical datasets from multiple sources, including remote sensing, for a thorough comparison of different phenomena. These biophysical sources include the International Soil Reference and Information Centre (ISRIC) World Soil Information, NASA MODIS vegetation indices and land surface temperature data, and the HarvestChoice spatially-disaggregated subnational crop production statistics database (Spatial Production Allocation Model; SPAM).

× The zip.file contains the Farm DESIGN model (software) as well as the input data. A user manual of the software is available online (https://sites.google.com/site/farmdesignmodel/download). The zipped Farm DESIGN model contains the whole-farm representation of nine farms in Northern Ghana. A low, medium and a high resource endowed farm per site, namely in Duko (Northern Region), Nyangua (Upper East) and Zanko (Upper West). There are several models per farm: 1. The current/ actual farm configuration 2. The baseline (reset to a situation with traditional (no Africa RISING) farming practices) 3. The farm, where Africa RISING Package 1 (Maize) is implemented 4. The farm, where Africa RISING Package 2 (Cowpea) is implemented 5. The farm, where Africa RISING Package 3 (Soybean) is implemented 6. The farm, where Africa RISING Package 4 (Maize-Legume Rotation) is implemented 7. The farm, where Africa RISING Package 5 (Maize-Legume Strip Crop) is implemented 8. A farm-model that is ready for an exploration (containing additional options the model may choose)

× This research was undertaken aiming to improve farm fied productivity and profitability in Mali. In this research, demonstration trials were implemented by farmer's communities in collaboration with the local non-government organization L?Association Malienne d?Eveil au D?veloppement Durable (AMEDD). Vegetable biodata were collected for Bougouni and Koutiala of Mali and Northern, Uppereast and Upperwest regions of Ghana. Project title: Research Program on Soil & Water Management. Project abstract: As part of the Feed the Future Initiative, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is supporting an innovative multi-stakeholder agricultural research program, the Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation (Africa RISING). The program?s main objective is to identify and validate scalable options for the sustainable intensification of key African cereal-based farming systems to increase food production and improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and at the same time conserve or improve the natural resource base. Project website: http://africa-rising.net

× The project aimed at testing the hypothesis that the application of sustainable intensification technologies (cereal-legume-vegetable-livestock integrated systems) by smallholder households in North Ghana changes the level of inter and intra-specific crop diversity managed on-farm at household level. The project included two main activities: (1) analyses of the baseline socioeconomic survey data gathered by IFPRI and IITA from a diversity perspective; and (2) implementation and analysis of a series of focus group discussions in 12 communities to assess the overall diversity of plant species that households manage and derive benefits from. Study title: Focus Group Discussions-Agrobiodiversity Assessment Study description: A series of FGDs in 12 communities were carried out during the earlier part of 2016. The objective of FGDs on agricultural biodiversity was to elicit the local knowledge about the agricultural and useful wild biodiversity present in the study areas in order to generate: (a) an ordered inventory (list) of all useful plants used by local communities for human food, animal feed, medicine, fuel, etc. and their local names; and (b) an inventory of species and other products bought and sold in markets that people attend. The aim was to have a subjective assessment of the overall diversity of species households manage and derive benefits from, how important each species is and how it contributes to the household?s food and income, as well as how it is used. Project website: http://africa-rising.net

× This data study includes social accounting matrix (SAM) for Ghana for the year 2013. The SAM is an extension of the Standard Nexus Structure. It consists of 55 activity sectors, 56 commodity sectors, three types of factors of production: labor (rural and urban disaggregated by level of education), land, and capital (disaggregated by crops, livestock, mining and other sectors). The household sector is divided spatially into urban and rural households. Rural households are further disaggregated into households that earn crop and/or livestock incomes (i.e., farm households) and those that do no earn incomes from either source (i.e., nonfarm households). Households are further disaggregated into per capita expenditure quintiles. This SAM allows analyzing issues at the detailed level and to better understand the potential impacts of policy changes for both better off and more vulnerable households.

× International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in collaboration with the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and Ministry of Food and Agriculture designed "Medium and Large-Scale Farmers and Agricultural Mechanization in Ghana" survey targeting large to medium scale farmers and tractor owners. The survey was aimed at characterizing the transition of smallholders farmers who have become medium- and large-scale commercial farmers in Ghana, assessing agricultural machinery ownership, and patterns of demand for agricultural mechanization among farmers in the country.

The survey covered a sample of 1843 farm households and contains data on their demography, farming history, land tenure security, farm land use, input use, crop production and tractor ownership among many others. This survey was designed to provide valid estimates at selected district level and not at regional or national level. Estimates generated from the survey data will be case study results for the sampled districts. Farm level and tractor ownership weight variables need to be used when generating these district estimates, otherwise any statistics without weights should be reported as sample statistics. Since small-scale farmers were not the primary focus of this survey, our random sample for this group is likely to have weak statistical power given that the sample was derived from the representative Ghana Agricultural Production Survey (GAPS) sample. Therefore, any comparison by farm size group should be done with caution and would require ex-post statistical power testing for the small-scale farmer's group.

× Project title: Cowpea Baby Trial in Northern Ghana Project abstract: This project aims to evaluate the performance of cowpea varieties by farmers. Project website: http://africa-rising.net

× This study contains data from different cereal legume rotation systems in northern Ghana. Project title: A Two Year Cereal Legume Rotation in Northern Ghana Project abstract: This project compares different cereal legume rotation systems and determines farmers' preferences. Project website: http://africa-rising.net http://africa-rising.net/where-we-work/west-africa/

× Crops residues commonly fed to ruminants by smallholder farmers were sampled at crop maturity from October to November 2014 and analyzed for their chemical composition to determined the quality of these fodder as the second common feed resources in Northern Ghana to help in sustainable feeding practices. To learn more about this dataset, please visit the ILRI Datasets Portal http://data.ilri.org/portal/dataset/my-dataset

× Project title: Africa RISING-Spraying Regime Effects on the Grain Yield of Cowpea Varieties in Northern Ghana. Project abstract: The data set evaluate adaptability and suitability of cowpea varieties to different ecozones. Project website: http://africa-rising.net http://africa-rising.net/where-we-work/west-africa/

× Project title: On-Farm Testing and Dissemination of Combination of Technologies. Project abstract: This project was conceived with the goal to evaluate the performance and farmers' preference for early maize varieties through on farm testing and dissemination of combination of technologies. Project website: http://africa-rising.net http://africa-rising.net/where-we-work/west-africa

× As part of the US government’s Feed the Future initiative that aims to address global hunger and food security issues in sub-Saharan Africa, the US Agency for International Development is supporting three multi-stakeholder agricultural research projects under Africa Research In Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation (Africa RISING - AR) program. The overall aim of the program is to transform agricultural systems through sustainable intensification projects in Ghana, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Malawi, Mali, and (potentially) Zambia. In West Africa, IITA works with multi-disciplinary R4D partners in selected communities located in Northern Ghana and Southern Mali. More particularly, in Northern Ghana three regions were chosen for the study: the Northern, Upper-East and Upper-West regions. These areas cover both maize-based and rice-vegetables-based systems and therefore allow to address the production constraints characterizing both realities7. As IFPRI (2012) highlights, the northern regions of Ghana are characterized by small land holdings and low input - low output farming systems, which adversely impact food security. In particular, they are subject to a seasonal cycle of food insecurity of three to seven months for cereals (i.e., maize, millet and sorghum) and four to seven months for legumes (i.e., groundnuts, cowpeas, and soybeans). These crops in the savannahs are often produced in a continuous monoculture, steadily depleting soil natural resources and causing the yields per unit area to fall to very low levels. The poverty profile of Ghana identifies the three northern regions as the poorest and most hunger-stricken areas in the country. Gender inequalities are also apparent in these regions, since women have limited access to resources and therefore limited capacity to generate income on their own.

× This study explores raising and sustaining productivity in cereal-legume cropping systems in northern Ghana. Project title: AfricaRISING - Sustainable Intensification of Cereal-Based Farming Systems in the Guinea-Sudan-Savanna of Ghana and Mali. Project abstract: In 2013, four mother-baby trials started to test and demonstrate crop variety and combinations of variety and agronomic options will continue for the second year. A split-plot design replicated in 4-6 communities per region will be used in the trials with 30 babies per community for each mother trial. Project website: https://africa-rising.net

× Project title: Africa RISING-Effects of P-Fertilizer Rates on Groundnut in Northern Ghana. Project abstract: The data set evaluates adaptability and suitability of groundnut varieties to different ecozones. Project website: http://africa-rising.net http://africa-rising.net/where-we-work/west-africa/

× This data study explores integrating vegetable into cereal-legume cropping productions systems in Ghana. Project title: AfricaRISING - Sustainable Intensification of Cereal-based Farming Systems in the Guinea-Sudan-Savanna of Ghana and Mali. Project abstract: Four vegetable crops will be compared across subsets of 30-50 households in each of the 3 northern regions using two planting densities and they are Amaranth for Upper West Region, Jute Mallow for the Northern region and Roselle for the Upper East region. Three fruit vegetables (Okra in all the regions), African eggplant and tomato in the other two regions and one spice vegetable (Pepper), in all the three regions. Project website: http://africa-rising.net

× This data study contains three-year data from three northern regions of Ghana which were collected to evaluate and demonstrate soybean practices.

× Project title: Africa RISING-Yield of Maize-Vegetable Intercrop as Influenced by Varying Plant Densities in Northern Ghana. Project abstract: The project aims i) to determine the effect of insect/pest and diseases on maize vegetable intercropping and ii) to determine farmer preferences and cost benefit analysis. Project website: http://africa-rising.net http://africa-rising.net/where-we-work/west-africa

× This data study explores raising and sustaining productivity in cereal-legume cropping systems in northern Ghana. Mamprusi districts in the Northern region and Guru and Builsa district in Upper East region Presbyterian Agricultural Services. However, Zia farming is an innovative technology which involves the burial of manure/organic matter in holes/ pits and planting the crop later on top of the pit. The objectives of this study are to evaluate and disseminate the Zia and fertilizer Micro-dosing techniques on-farm; to undertake cost benefit analysis of the Zia and fertilizer Micro-dosing; to explore the potential increase in grain yield of Zia and fertilizer Micro-dosing over farmers practice in the Africa RISING intervention communities; to undertake comparative analysis of the effect of Zia and fertilizer Micro-dosing on maize,sorghum, and millet. Project website: http://africa-rising.net http://africa-rising.net/where-we-work/west-africa/

× This data study explores raising and sustaining productivity in cereal-legume cropping systems in northern Ghan. Project title: AfricaRISING - Sustainable intensification of cereal-based farming systems in the Guinea-Sudan-Savanna of Ghana and Mali. Project abstract: Mono-cropping of sesame(Sesame indicum L.) is being promoted for cash to diversify smallholder income in the northern Ghana. The objective of this activity is to evaluate agronomic options for integrating sesame into maize, sorghum, and millet cropping systems. A split-plot design replicated in 3-4 communities per region will be used within row spacing 1 and 2 weeks after planting maize. For the trials, data will be collected on growth of maize and sesame, light interception/leaf area index, weed diversity and biomass, grain yield of maize and sesame, soil temperature, soil moisture, and plant pest and diseases. Output and input will be collected for cost benefit analysis. Project website: https://africa-rising.net

× This data study explores raising and sustaining productivity in cereal-legume cropping systems in northern Ghana. About the project. Project title: AfricaRISING - Sustainable Intensification of Cereal-Based Farming Systems in the Guinea-Sudan-Savanna of Ghana and Mali. Project abstract: In Ghana, Zia has been successfully been introduced on a limited scale to farmers in the East Gonja, East Mamprusi districts in the Northern region and Guru and Builsa district in Upper East region Presbyterian Agricultural Services. However, Zia farming is an innovative technology which involves the burial of manure/organic matter in holes/ pits and planting the crop later on top of the pit. The objectives of this study are to evaluate and disseminate the Zia and fertilizer Micro-dosing techniques on-farm; to undertake cost benefit analysis of the Zia and fertilizer Micro-dosing; to explore the potential increase in grain yield of Zia and fertilizer Micro-dosing over farmers practice in the Africa RISING intervention communities; to undertake comparative analysis of the effect of Zia and fertilizer Micro-dosing on maize,sorghum, and millet. Project website: http://africa-rising.net http://africa-rising.net/where-we-work/west-africa/

× The Cocoa Sector Expenditure and Revenue in Ghana dataset contains expenditure and revenue data from cocoa sector in Ghana. The dataset aggregates information from various sources including Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), and Producer Price Review Committee (PPRC). These data are available from 1996-2012.

× This dataset includes national-level time series data on researcher capacity by qualification level, age bracket, discipline mix, and commodity, as well as a detailed breakdown of agricultural research investment across government, higher education, nonprofit, and (where possible) private for-profit agricultural research agencies. These data were derived through a series of primary survey rounds conducted by IFPRI’s Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI) and in close collaboration with a large network of national collaborators. The ASTI data constitute a powerful resource for national and regional research managers, policymakers, donor organizations, and other stakeholders. ASTI’s key indicators provide both a diagnostic tool for assessing the allocation and use of existing resources and an advocacy tool for increasing resources and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of resource use. The ASTI website offers interactive pages that allow users to access country-level time series data, make cross-country comparisons, create graphs, and download country datasets and publications as well as detailed institutional information on agencies involved in agricultural research. The interactive benchmarking tool on the ASTI website is a convenient map-based instrument allowing users to make cross-country comparisons and rankings based on a wide set of financial and human resource indicators. The detailed ASTI datasets are available in an easy-to-use data download tool. Detailed information on definitions, methodology, and calculation procedures are available at www.asti.cgiar.org

× AVRDC conducted a survey on nutrition related issues, which was planned jointly with ICRISAT. While AVRDC will make the detailed results available as appropriate, the following indications are important for the future development of these research activities; The survey found that women who were participating, or had participated (Year 1) in the Nutrition Field Schools had a much better understanding of mal-nutrition, as well food groups, and food requirements to avoid malnutrition. There appear to be some differences in the recipes on preparing children?s porridges between villages that had training, and those that had not, however, the study was conducted while the training was still going, and so the participants had not fully covered all the topics. The final results of this study will guide further detailed studies. Project title: Sustainable Intensification of Key Farming Systems in the Sudano-Sahelian Zone of West Africa. Project abstract: As part of the Feed the Future Initiative, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is supporting an innovative multi-stakeholder agricultural research program, the Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation (Africa RISING). The program?s main objective is to identify and validate scalable options for the sustainable intensification of key African cereal-based farming systems to increase food production and improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and at the same time conserve or improve the natural resource base. Project website: http://africa-rising.net

× This data study contains household and community survey data in support of Africa RISING farming systems analysis. Project title: AfricaRISING- Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume-Livestock Integrated Farming Systems in East and Southern Africa Project abstract: Sustainable intensification of mixed crop livestock systems is a key pathway towards better food security, improved livelihoods and a healthy environment. As part of the US government?s Feed the Future initiative to address hunger and food security issues in sub-Saharan Africa, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is supporting three multi-stakeholder agricultural research projects to sustainably intensify key African farming systems. In East and Southern Africa the project is being implemented in Tanzania and Malawi, and Zambia. - In Tanzania the project is being implemented in Babati and Kongwa districts in Manyara region of northern Tanzania and Kiteto district in Dodoma region, central Tanzania. The action sites were selected to acknowledge agroecological differences, allow appropriate targeting of technologies and strategies, and complement the development efforts of another USAID-supported program, the Tanzania Staples Value Chain (NAFAKA) project. - In Malawi, the project is being implemented in Ntechu and Dedza districts in central Malawi where maize-based productions systems are dominant. Agroecological considerations guided the identification of research action sites. The pilot site for the study will be Eastern and Lusaka Provinces in Zambia. Project website: http://africa-rising.net

× The motivation to measure food policy research capacity stems from a pressing need to understand what a country's primary constraints are in undertaking food policy research and using it effectively in the policy process. With such understanding, capacity-development interventions can become easier to design and capacity building programs can be more effective. Food policy research is defined here as any socioeconomic or policy-related research in the food, agriculture, and natural-resource sectors. In this database, two country-level food policy research capacity indicators are presented. The first indicator is the number of full-time equivalent analysts or researchers with PhDs or their equivalent analysts or researchers with PhDs or their equivalent per one million rural citizens. This number is indicative of a country's investment in policy research activities. Although financial and physical resources are not explicitly included in this measure, it is assumed that the number of researchers acts as a proxy for these other food policy research inputs. This indicator includes staff at government ministries, higher education institutes, and research organizations that undertake food policy research as defined above. Staff members with a master's degree are valued at half of a PhD, and those with a bachelor's degree are valued at a quarter of a PhD. The number of staff is also scaled by the proportion of time spent on food policy research which is dependent on the type of institution.

The second indicator is the number of food policy relevant journal articles published internationally within the last five years per full-time PhD-equivalent researcher. This input-output ratio measure is indicative of the efficiency of the policy research environment. The number of publications was determined from searches in the EconLit and Web of Science databases for journal articles related to food policy and authored by experts who were counted in the assessment of the first indicator. Earlier attempts to quantify and collect comparable data on other policy research outputs, such as policy briefs, interactions with government ministries, or conference contributions presented numerous challenges. For this reason, and because international publications guarantee a minimum and comparable level of quality, this indicator was chosen.

× The purpose of this data compilation effort was to use the data for research on fiscal decentralization and public investment in Ghana. The dataset, which consists of district-level observations, covers all of Ghana’s 110 districts in existence during the period 1994 to 2004. (Since then, the number of districts in Ghana has grown as the result of administrative rearrangements.) The dataset was compiled from administrative data sources of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development, and Environment (MLGRDE) of Ghana, Inspectorate Division (under the then-leadership of Mr. Johnson Alifo). Some of the data were obtained directly from the Ministry, while other parts of the data had been previously obtained from the Ministry by researchers at the Institute for Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER) in the University of Ghana, Accra. These data are secondary, “raw” data, however were compiled and organized by IFPRI staff from both electronic sources, as well as from hardcopy sources available only in Ghanaian government physical archival records. Additional data management activities undertaken were the compilation of the data into a consistent format (e.g. each row represents a district), the application of the same spelling of districts across files, and the use of a consistent variable name across files.
The values in the dataset were denoted in ‘old’ cedi, not the new Ghana cedi (GHC), which was introduced in July 2007. One new GHC is equivalent to 10,000 ‘old’ cedi. The dataset retains the denomination used in the original dataset (which pertains to the years 1994-2004, before the introduction of the GHC). The values are nominal (not adjusted for inflation). No questionnaires or other survey instruments have been used, since this was a collection of secondary administrative data. (2012-03-13)

× In 2000, UNICEF–Ghana and IFPRI agreed upon a program of action research to evaluate the scope for food-based strategies to reduce micronutrient undernutrition in Ghana. The food-based strategies were planned as one component of UNICEF’s broader Integrated Community Based Development (ICBD) program. Although UNICEF had been operating its ICBD program in other districts, the food-based micronutrient strategies were first introduced as part of the ICBD program in Savelugu/Nanton District. The 2004 Savelugu/Nanton Household Survey was collected by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in collaboration with the Food and Nutrition Security Unit (FNSU) at the University for Development Studies (UDS), which is based in Tamale, northern Ghana. It is a cross-sectional survey that, when paired with the baseline survey conducted in 2001, formed the basis for an IFPRI-led impact evaluation of interventions sponsored by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to increase the micronutrient content of young children’s diets. The 2001 baseline household and community survey is also available from IFPRI at http://www.ifpri.org/data/Ghana02.asp.

× The 2005 Ghana Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) is a consistent data framework that captures the information contained in the national income and product accounts and the input-output table, as well as the monetary flows between institutions. The SAM estimates the structure of the Ghanaian economy in 2005 and includes detailed information on 56 production sectors, six factors of production, income and expenditures of rural and urban households, the government budget, and the balance of payments. A regionally disaggregated version of the SAM is available from the authors upon request.

× In 2000, UNICEF–Ghana and IFPRI agreed upon a program of action research to evaluate the scope for food-based strategies to reduce micronutrient undernutrition in Ghana. The food-based strategies were planned as one component of UNICEF’s broader Integrated Community Based Development (ICBD) program. Although UNICEF had been operating its ICBD program in other districts, the food-based micronutrient strategies were first introduced as part of the ICBD program in Savelugu/Nanton District. The 2001 Ghana Savelugu-Nanton Survey is one of the early steps in the program of action research to evaluate the effectiveness of food-based strategies to increase the consumption of micronutrient-rich foods, especially among young children and women of reproductive age. The survey interviewed 1,684 households living in 64 communities, and collected information about agricultural production, food consumption, nutritional status, use of credit, education, community infrastructure and services, and a range of other topics. The 2001 survey provides baseline information on conditions that existed prior to the implementation of the program interventions. A follow-up survey was conducted in 2004 to evaluate the impact of the program not only on the consumption of micronutrient-rich foods, but also on a number of other outcomes of interest, including access to and use of credit, children’s nutritional status, women’s control of resources, and household incomes.

× This dataset provides information on livelihoods and household food and nutrition security in an urban setting. The questionnaire was administered to 559 households in 16 enumeration areas in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area from January through April, 1997. The sample is representative of households with children under 36 months. Topics in the household survey include complete household income, including information on credit and transfers; employment status; household food consumption (including detailed information on street food consumption); household food and non-food expenditures, assets; educational attainment for the head of the household and the mother of the index child, morbidity and health seeking behavior; anthropometry of all children in the household and the mother of the index child; care practices; food coping strategies; adaptive strategies; and hygiene spot check. Topics in the community survey include market prices, street foods, quality of services, and NGO activity.