Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Vol. 4(2), pp. 014-020, February 2015 Available online at http://academeresearchjournals.org/journal/jaed ISSN 2327-3151 ©2015 Academe Research Journals Full Length Research Paper The determinants of subjective well-being among subsistence farmers in the Northern Region of Ghana Abukari Yakubu* and Robert Aidoo Department of Agricultural Economics Kwame Nkrumah University of Science And Technology (KNUST), Kumasi – Ghana. Accepted 2 January, 2015 Subjective well-being is gaining prominence as an alternate measure of poverty and deprivation. This study examines determinants of subjective well-being among subsistence farmers in the Northern Region of Ghana. The study uses cross-sectional data from 346 households. Since subjective well- being has an inherent ordering, an ordered logit procedure is employed in analysing the determinants of subjective well-being among subsistence farmers. Four livelihood strategies were commonly adopted by subsistence farmers comprising: Agriculture only, Agriculture and nonfarm, Agriculture and off-farm, and the Mixed strategy. Food insecurity and the adoption of Agriculture and off-farm strategy lowered the subjective well-being of subsistence farmers, while household income, social capital, belief in Idol or Islamic worship and human capital increased the subjective well-being of subsistence farmers. It is recommended that policies in the future aimed at addressing deprivation and low subjective well-being should among other things target subsistence farmers who depend on the sale of agricultural labour as a livelihood strategy. Key words: Subjective well-being, subsistence farmers, livelihood strategy. INTRODUCTION Globally, livelihood studies and/or appraisal have been linked to poverty. According to the World Bank (2008), three-quarters of the world’s poor people live in rural areas with majority of them having their livelihoods propped by subsistence agriculture. In Ghana, the story is not different; agriculture contributes 22.70% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with 90% of the nation’s agriculture being subsistence (Ghana Statistical Service, 2013). Subsistence farmers, who are seldom prosperous, are usually synonymously referred to as traditional, smallholder, subsidiary, peasant or low input farmers (Ellis, 1993). In constructing their livelihoods, subsistence farmers in Ghana often have to choose one or a cocktail of strategies including: on farm, off-farm, and nonfarm activities. All in a bid mitigate the effects of exposure of their livelihoods: to the vagaries of the weather which precipitates crop failures, ill-health and its attendant effect on labour and market failures (Scoones, 1998). The presumption throughout literature is that subsistence farmers choose such patterns so as to achieve the best possible standard of living (Ellis, 1998). The livelihood strategies are usually constructed towards achieving specific end objectives or outcomes. To the subsistence farmer, the most likely outcome to any livelihood strategy include but not exclusively, food security, reduced vulnerability, increased work days/opportunities and finally improved wellbeing (DFID, 2000). Wellbeing according McGregor (2007) comes under three main dimensions (3D’s) including what people have (objective), what people can do (relational) and what people feel about what they have and can do (subjective). Objective and relational wellbeing which forms core wellbeing, captures household income and others like knowledge, life expectancy, assets and food security. Subjective wellbeing as an end in life which evaluates *Corresponding author. E-mail: yakubuabukaridabi@yahoo.com.