Prospects, determinants and challenges of implementing food banking: evidence from Ashanti Region of Ghana, Dr. Nicholas Mensah, Jeffery Asare, Ernest Amrago, Samuel Anang and Tekuni Nakuja
Dr. Nicholas Oppong Mensah
, Jeffery Kofi Asare, Ernest Christlieb Amrago, Samuel Afotey Anang, Tekuni Nakuja
Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension
University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani
Ghana
Email: kasare14@gmail.com
DOI: 10.1108/WJSTSD-01-2021-0009
Purpose: This paper seeks to examine the prospects and constraints of implementing food banking in the in Kumasi Metropolis in Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach: Multistage sampling technique was used to select 385 respondents for the study. Descriptive statistics were used to present prospects of food banking. The probit regression model was used to analyse factors influencing food banking implementation whereas Kendall's coefficient of concordance was used to analyse constraints in implementing food banking.
Findings: Addressing food poverty, helping to provide food aid to respondents in times of pandemics (such as Covid 19) and also helping in reducing food wastage were the most notable prospects of food banking. Age, household size, food bank awareness and food poverty had a significant positive influence on food banking implementation, whereas residential status and employment status had a significant negative influence on food banking implementation. The most pressing constraint in implementing food banking is funding and support with the mean rank of 3.03 whiles the least pressing constraint is improper documentation of potential beneficiaries with the mean rank of 6.72.
Social implications: This study provides empirical contributions and practical implications for implementing food banks in Ghana. Thus, the government of Ghana through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) can enact policies that can help prevent food losses and wastage. In this vain, food which could have been wasted would be redirected to food banks. This can serve as a tool for social intervention, poverty alleviation and prevention of hunger among the vulnerable in Ghana.
Originality/value: Despite several studies on food banking in affluent countries, food banking research in developing countries such as Ghana remains scanty. Thus, this paper makes significant contributions to the literature on prospects and constraints in implementing food banking and the factors influencing food banking implementation.
Keywords: Food; Bank; Prospects; Challenges; Probit regression.
Citation: Mensah, N.O., Asare, J.K., Amrago, E.C., Anang, S.A. and Nakuja, T. (2021), "Prospects, determinants and challenges of implementing food banking: evidence from Ashanti Region of Ghana", World Journal of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 303-319. https://doi.org/10.1108/WJSTSD-01-2021-0009
