1 in 5 poor in SADA areas

A baseline study has revealed that more than one in five households in the 45 Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) districts live below the poverty line, earning less than $1.25 per day.

Alarmingly, the survey indicated that only 15.5% of children receive a minimum acceptable diet in Northern Ghana.


The Upper West Region experienced the highest poverty rates. Four thousand, four hundred and ten households were identified and surveyed.


The Population-Based Survey (PBS) was conducted by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) between June and August 2012.


A release issued in Accra by the Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy and copied to The Finder said the survey determined that among the northern-tier households surveyed, 67% of total household expenditures are allocated to food.


The research was to monitor performance of USAID interventions in Ghana and provide a foundation for evaluating Feed the Future (FTF) outcomes.

According to the release, the study was conducted in collaboration with the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana and the Ghana Statistical Service, which facilitated the sampling process, and the Department of Agricultural Economics of Kansas State University.


The statement quoted Economic Growth Office Director of USAID, Peter Trenchard, as saying “this data has potential to influence education decision-making, governance planning, media reporting and citizen knowledge in general,” highlighting the principle that open data serves to reinforce research-based, open and transparent governance.


It said over the next two weeks, USAID partners will travel around the country, visiting universities to share the survey data with faculty and researchers, and discuss what academic institutions can do to best utilise the data.


Ghana is a priority country within the U.S. government’s Feed the Future (FTF) initiative which has the embracing goal to sustainably reduce global poverty and hunger.


The SADA district comprises the three northern regions of Ghana; namely Upper East, Upper West and the Northern Region, and stretches to include districts contiguous to the Northern Region that are located north of Brong Ahafo and north of the Volta Region with an estimated population of 5.2 million.