Rural Out-Migration and Food Security in Ghana’s Development Zones

Aaron K. Christian, University of Ghana
Donatus Yaw Atiglo, Regional Institute for Population Studies
Micheal Okyere, UNU-WIDER, University of Ghana, Legon-Accra
Samuel Codjoe, University of Ghana

Rural out-migration in sub-Saharan Africa has had a significant impact on the utilization of cultivated land, however, it is seen by many as a critical livelihood and food security strategy. Scholarship on the links between rural out-migration and food insecurity remains ambiguous and lacks ample consideration of the characteristics of the place of origin. Using data from the nationally representative Ghana Living Standards Survey (Round 7), we employ a multinomial function to examine the food insecurity status of migrants relative to their non-migrant counterparts in their rural origins. The results indicate that compared to non-migrants, whereas rural out-migrants from the coastal and middle belt development zones were significantly more likely to be severely food insecure, rural migrants from the northern development zone were less likely to be food insecure. Thus, the importance of the unique characteristics of the place of migrant origin in current food security discourse is buttressed.