Table 2 Definition of model variables
Variable | Variable definition | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Interval variables | Mean | Standard deviation | |
Age | Age of the household head (years) | 45 | 16 |
Household income | Household monthly income from both farm and non-farm sources (Malawi Kwacha) | 16,239.5 | 18484.8 |
Household size | Number of household members | 5.255 | 1.913 |
WELI score | Summation of weighted values for WELI indicators ranging from 0 to 1, indicating least and most empowered women in livestock respectively (index) | 0.354 | 0.185 |
HDDS | Food security measure captures the number of food groups consumed within a designated period | 4.163 | 2.005 |
Nominal variables | Category | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|---|
Education level | Level of education attained by the household head (1 = no formal education, 2 = primary education, 3 = secondary education & 4 = tertiary education) | 1 2 3 4 | 25.8 48.0 25.5 0.8 |
Occupation | Main source of income/livelihood activity for the household (1 = crop farming, 2 = livestock farming, 3 = trading; 4 = formal employment/civil service, 5 = piecework) | 1 2 3 4 5 | 63.2 23.3 4.8 1.3 7.5 |
Gender | Gender of household head (1 = male, 0 = female) | 1 0 | 68.8 31.3 |
Marital status | Marital status of household head (1 = unmarried, 2 = married, 3 = widow/widower, 4 = divorced or separated) | 1 2 3 4 | 0.3 71.5 21.3 7.0 |
Government food security interventions | Whether households benefited from any government food security interventions (1 = Affordable Input subsidy programme, 2 = Scaling Up nutrition, 3 = cash transfer, 4 = food for work projects, and 5 = did not benefit) over the past year | 1 2 3 4 5 | 10.5 1.0 4.5 0.8 83.3 |