This thesis investigates the relationship between groundnut cash cropping decisions and
household food security in two regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Particular attention is paid to how
the gender of groundnut growers influences this relationship. Additionally, the thesis examines
how gender influences household marketing decisions. Household groundnut production and
marketing data was obtained using surveys administered in eastern Uganda and central Ghana. A
food consumption score developed by the World Food Program is used as a quantitative measure
of food security. Measures of household groundnut cultivation intensity are specified using data
on household groundnut production and marketing levels. An OLS regression estimates the
relationship between the food consumption score and measures of cash cropping intensity and
other cash crop production decisions. Apart from the OLS regression, a tobit model is employed
to estimate the gender effects on household marketing decisions, examining both the decision to
participate in a market and the decision concerning the amount to market. Cash cropping
decisions are found to play no role in the determination of food security. While the presence of
female groundnut growers in a household has a small positive effect on the food consumption
score, there is no identifiable gender influence upon the cash cropping and food security
relationship. The tobit model results indicate no gender effect upon household marketing
decisions.