Production and food security implications of large-scale land deals: Evidence from agricultural households in northern Ghana

Abstract

Although large-scale land acquisition (LSLA) - pejoratively referred to as land grabbing – and its implications on livelihoods have been extensively studied, the literature is still unclear about how LSLA by different actors affects household’s livelihoods. Using information from 664 households and counterfactual analysis, this study analyses the effects of LSLA by domestic and foreign entities on food production and food security in northern Ghana. Our results revealed that both LSLA by domestic and foreign actors reduce the total value of crop output, self-sufficiency in food production, and food consumption score but increase household food insecurity access score. In all cases, however, the effect of LSLA by domestic entities is higher than that of LSLA by foreign entities. This implies that LSLA by domestic entities reduces food production and food security as compared to LSLA by foreign entities. Thus, the concerns among stakeholders on the effect of LSLA should be geared towards both LSLA by domestic entities and foreign entities.