Cost-minimizing food budgets in Ghana

Darko, Francis Addeah; Allen, Benjamin L.; Mazunda, John; Rahimzai, Rafiullah; Dobbins, Craig L.

doi:10.5897/jdae12.097

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Other authors have designed a linear programming diet model to determine the least costly basket of food items containing 13 food items that satisfy some of the recommended daily nutritional requirements of the average Ghanaian without addressing aspects of cultural acceptability and variety [ 41 ]. However one of the challenges of the LP methodology is that a limited number of foods are selected ( Table 2 ) and this is likely to become too monotonous over a prolonged period and also not culturally acceptable [ 20 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutritionally Optimized, Culturally Acceptable, Cost-Minimized Diets for Low Income Ghanaian Families Using Linear Programming

et al. 2018

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The Ghanaian population suffers from a double burden of malnutrition. Cost of food is considered a barrier to achieving a health-promoting diet. Food prices were collected in major cities and in rural areas in southern Ghana. Linear programming (LP) was used to calculate nutritionally optimized diets (food baskets (FBs)) for a low-income Ghanaian family of four that fulfilled energy and nutrient recommendations in both rural and urban settings. Calculations included implementing cultural acceptability for families living in extreme and moderate poverty (food budget under USD 1.9 and 3.1 per day respectively). Energy-appropriate FBs minimized for cost, following Food Balance Sheets (FBS), lacked key micronutrients such as iodine, vitamin B12 and iron for the mothers. Nutritionally adequate FBs were achieved in all settings when optimizing for a diet cheaper than USD 3.1. However, when delimiting cost to USD 1.9 in rural areas, wild foods had to be included in order to meet nutritional adequacy. Optimization suggested to reduce roots, tubers and fruits and to increase cereals, vegetables and oil-bearing crops compared with FBS. LP is a useful tool to design culturally acceptable diets at minimum cost for low-income Ghanaian families to help advise national authorities how to overcome the double burden of malnutrition.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutritionally Optimized, Culturally Acceptable, Cost-Minimized Diets for Low Income Ghanaian Families Using Linear Programming

et al. 2018

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“…Stigler (1945) studied the minimum cost of his chosen 77 food would be consumed by a man weighing 154 pounds so that his intake of nine nutrients would be at least equal to the recommended dietary intake (as suggested by the National Research Council). A similar study by Darko et al (2013) observed that an average Ghanaian requires $0.36 per day to meet his daily nutritional needs. This would be met with a food basket made up of sorghum, yam, cassava, coconut and milk.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Cost-Minimized Diets For UiTM Perlis Students Using Goal And Linear Programming

Fauzi¹,

Alias²,

Shafii³

2019

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Humans need to eat good and balanced nutritious diet that provides calories for energy requirements andnutrients for proper growth, repair and maintenance of the body tissue. Today, busy lifestyle habitsdrastically changed the pattern of eating where students are more likely to have irregular meal times andthe cost of food may be expensive for them. Therefore, this study is conducted to find the minimum costthat satisfies the daily nutrient requirements. A linear programming (LP) model and goal programming(GP) model are formulated where the objective function is the total cost of food. Food prices werecollected from selected cafés in UiTM Perlis and the recommended daily nutrient intakes of 19-29 yearsold, male and female were obtained from the Ministry of Health Malaysia. The sample used in thisresearch consists of 10 most frequently consumed food items as decision variables. QM for Windows V5was used to determine minimum cost that satisfies the nutritional requirements. LP results, the minimumcost for male students is RM9.88 and for female students is RM9.10. Based on the GP results, the cost isRM9.00 for both male and female students. It is evident from the results that GP has achieved theminimum cost and the food basket for male students consists of 410g of rice, 140g of chicken, 42.9g ofbroccoli and 252.7g of mushroom. Meanwhile, the food basket for female students consists of 429g ofrice, 113.4g of chicken, 37.44g of broccoli and 321.3g of mushroom. Keywords: Linear Programming Model, Goal Programming Model, Minimum Cost, Nutritional requirements, Optimization

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“…Domestic water demand is set to 50 liters per day and person based on the drinking and sanitation water right standards [23]. Daily food demand is modeled as 658 g of maize grain per inhabitant, which covers the minimum dietary calorie intake of 2400 kcal [33]. In Kpori, up to 263 tons of maize grain can be produced annually on the domestic farmland due to the maximum capacity of arable land of 15 ha.…”

Section: Model Inputmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Development of Rural Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa through Decentralized Energy-Water-Food Systems

Winklmaier¹,

Santos²,

Trenkle³

2020

Regional Development in Africa

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Access to electricity is essential for humanity to develop. Nowadays, 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have no access to energy services, most of them living in rural areas. However, this region has an outstanding solar potential that could unlock cheap power generation through solar power systems. This raises the question of how rural communities in Africa could avail the benefits of renewable energy systems to gain access to electricity and develop sustainable and productive activities around while facing low purchase power, high interest rates, and high investment costs. The concept of decentralized energy-water-food system proposes a solution: it enables renewable energy access with biomass and solar energy for the private power of the local community, provides secure water supply and yearround irrigation, and increases their livelihood through the profitability of farming and generation of jobs. The concept is applied to a case study in rural Ghana and the least-cost design is obtained. An economic feasibility analysis is carried out on the evaluation of profitability and the total financial value generated for the main stakeholders. The results portrait the economic advantages of the proposed concept design-a hybrid solar-biogas system-to deliver affordable electricity, water, and food supply.

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Cost-minimizing food budgets in Ghana

Abstract: Attaining the daily required nutritional recommendations is a major challenge in

Cited by 6 publications

References 13 publications

Nutritionally Optimized, Culturally Acceptable, Cost-Minimized Diets for Low Income Ghanaian Families Using Linear Programming

Nutritionally Optimized, Culturally Acceptable, Cost-Minimized Diets for Low Income Ghanaian Families Using Linear Programming

Cost-Minimized Diets For UiTM Perlis Students Using Goal And Linear Programming

Economic Development of Rural Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa through Decentralized Energy-Water-Food Systems

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