🌱 CSA Field Data

University for Development Studies

⚙️ Settings & Help

General completion procedure

1. Choose the correct instrument: Household, KII or FGD.
2. Enter the identification code exactly as assigned and select the correct city and site.
3. Read every question consistently. Do not suggest answers or change the respondent’s meaning.
4. Use the probes only to clarify or obtain an example. Record responses as completely and accurately as possible.
5. For numeric entries, confirm the unit, recall period and currency before entering the value.
6. Use Add row for every separate crop cycle, ranked barrier or pathway/action entry.
7. Select Home or Save draft when an interview must be paused. The app saves the current progress on the device.
8. Use Finalise & sync only after reviewing every section with the respondent, informant or group.
9. When offline, finalised records remain pending. Reconnect and select “Sync now”.

🏠 Household Field Questionnaire

1. Identification, eligibility and consent: enter the assigned questionnaire ID, city, community, date and interviewer details. Confirm that the respondent is at least 18 years old, the household produced vegetables within the reference period, the respondent knows about production, and consent was given.
2. Household and farm characteristics: record the respondent’s age, sex, education, occupation, household size, farming experience, land arrangement, cultivated area and correct area unit. Ask about water, extension, credit, group membership, market distance and climate information.
3. CSA practices: select Yes only when the practice was actually used in the most recent season. Select No when applicable but not used, and N/A only when the practice genuinely did not apply. Enter the codes of the three most important practices in ranked order.
4. Crop cycles: add one row for every crop and production cycle during the stated reference period. Do not combine different crops or cycles. Record area, harvest, quantity sold, cash sales, home use or gifts, farm-gate price, losses and remaining stock with their units.
5. Production costs: first indicate whether the household paid for each item. If Yes, enter the actual cash amount in Ghana cedis. Do not value unpaid family labour or free inputs as paid costs unless the approved questionnaire requires it.
6. HFIAS: use the previous four weeks or 30 days. Ask whether each condition occurred; when Yes, ask whether it occurred rarely, sometimes or often. Do not replace the recall period with the farming season.
7. HDDS: begin with an open recall of all foods and drinks consumed by household members during the previous day and night. Then mark each food group once, regardless of quantity.
8. Challenges and perceived effects: distinguish whether a challenge was experienced from its severity. Record the top three challenges in order, support needed, positive and negative effects, and the final interview status.

🗣️ Key Informant Interview (KII)

1. Details and consent: confirm the informant’s institution, role, years of experience and stakeholder group. Do not begin the substantive interview without consent.
2. CSA adaptation: obtain concrete examples of practices actually used, observable evidence, common combinations, differences between farmers or sites, practices stopped or reduced, and recent trends.
3. Income contribution: explore pathways through yields, production stability, input and marketing costs, losses, quality, sales and prices. Ask when benefits do not occur and whether reliable records exist.
4. Food security: discuss food access, food retained for home consumption, dietary variety, lean periods and differences between households. Separate the informant’s direct knowledge from opinion.
5. Challenges and institutions: cover land, water, extension, climate information, finance, inputs, labour, transport, markets and post-harvest conditions. Ask for programmes, institutional roles, evidence of results, priority challenges and feasible actions.
6. Record responses in sufficient detail, including examples and contrary cases. Do not reduce a long explanation to a single unsupported conclusion.

👥 Focus Group Discussion (FGD)

1. Preparation: confirm the group code, city, site, composition, participant number, moderator, note-taker, language and consent. Aim for the approved group size and ensure everyone understands participation is voluntary.
2. Facilitation: encourage participation from quieter members, prevent one person from dominating, and record disagreement as well as consensus. Do not force the group to agree.
3. Farming context and CSA practices: establish crops, seasons and recent problems before discussing practices, combinations, continuation, reduction or failure.
4. Income and food-security pathways: ask how practices may change costs, harvests, losses, quality, sales, prices, food access and dietary variety. Record negative or no-effect cases.
5. Barrier ranking: list one barrier per row, conduct the agreed voting procedure, enter the votes and rank, and note who is most affected. Preserve minority or different views.
6. Pathways and actions: add one row for each priority. Record the immediate change, expected income or production pathway, expected food-security pathway and possible risks.
7. Validation: summarise the main points to participants, invite corrections, record missing issues and only then close the session.

Key terms

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA): farming practices intended to support productivity, adaptation and resilience while considering environmental impacts.

Urban/peri-urban farming: vegetable production within a city or in the closely connected areas around it.

Household: people who normally live together and share food or household resources.

Respondent: the eligible household member who provides answers to the Household Questionnaire.

Key informant: a person selected because their professional role or experience gives them relevant knowledge of the study subject.

Moderator: the person who facilitates an FGD without imposing personal views. Note-taker: the person who records the discussion, non-verbal observations and areas of agreement or disagreement.

Informed consent: a voluntary decision to participate after receiving adequate information about the study, risks, benefits, confidentiality and the right to withdraw.

HFIAS recall period: the previous four weeks (30 days).

HDDS recall period: foods consumed by household members during the previous 24 hours.

Crop cycle: one production period from planting to harvest for a crop.

Paid cost: an actual cash expense for vegetable production or marketing during the stated reference period.

Farm-gate price: the price received by the farmer at the farm or production site, before subsequent retail margins.

Post-harvest loss: produce lost in quantity or quality between harvesting and consumption or sale.

Food access: a household’s ability to obtain sufficient food through production, purchase, exchange or other means.

Dietary diversity: the variety of food groups consumed during the specified recall period.

Probe: a neutral follow-up prompt used to clarify an answer or obtain an example without leading the respondent.

Minority view: an important opinion expressed by one or a few FGD participants that differs from the majority.

Draft: an unfinished record stored on the current device. Pending: a finalised record waiting to be synchronised. Synced: a record successfully received by the Google Sheets backend.

KII: Key Informant Interview. FGD: Focus Group Discussion.

Settings & Help

App version: 1.5.0

Schema: 1.5.0

Storage: checking…

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Offline-first: all data saved on device. Sync when online.

PIN lock: (optional) set a 4-digit PIN for app access.

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