Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture No. 1/09
Combining principal component analysis and logistic regression models to assess household level food security among smallholder cash crop producers in Kenya
Elizabeth Kabura Nyaga and Werner Doppler
University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
Abstract
Concerns about rising food insecurity in developing countries have
prompted a lot of research. This paper deals with household survey of
cash crop smallholders in Murang’a District, Kenya. The paper focuses
on how factors related to cash crops production affect food security.
Principal component analysis was applied in developing a relative food
security index that was used as an outcome variable in logistic
regression to predict factors affecting food security in this
region.
Results indicate that the percentage of food secure households is
lower in the tea zone. This is despite relatively higher income from
tea production. Income from tea is used in food purchase because of
insignificant own production. Coffee farmers concentrate more in food
than coffee production. They may therefore produce adequate for their
households and sell any surplus. Further results indicate that
increasing land under cash crop would increase the likelihood of a
household being food insecure.
Keywords: cash crops, food security, Kenya
JEL: Q12, D13, R20
Vol. 48 (2009), No. 1: 5-23