DETERMINANTS OF FOOD SECURITY STATUS AMONG PERI-URBAN FARMING HOUSEHOLDS IN ONDO STATE, NIGERIA.

Abstract

The broad objective of this study is to analyse the determinants of food security status of peri-urban farming households in Ondo State, Nigeria. Data collected from 125 peri-urban farming household heads purposively selected for interview were analyzed using descriptive statistics food security indices, logistic regression model and the coping strategy index. Results showed that with approximately 78.0% of the sample, men dominated peri-urban agriculture in the study area. About 62.0% of the respondents had their household sizes as 10-14 persons while about 85.0% of them had 5 to 25 years of formal education. The most prominent crop enterprises practiced by the respondents were cassava (73.6%) and maize (70.0%), while poultry which accounted for 20.8% was the most important livestock enterprise. Result also showed that 54.0% of the households was food insecure while 46.0% was food secure. The average daily kilocalorie and protein intake for food secure households was 12,227.60kcal and 339.86g while the figures for food insecure households were 4,388.03kcal and 116.48g respectively. The food insecurity gap/surplus index results showed that food secure households exceeded the calorie requirement by 48.0% while the food insecure households fell short of the calorie requirement by 62.0%. The postulated explanatory variables explained approximately 48.0% in the variability of the food security index while the log likelihood value showed that the overall model was significant at 1.0% level. The empirical result revealed that the coefficient of the income and household size of the respondents were significant in determining food security in the study area. The income of the peri-urban farming households was statistically significant at 1% and had a positive effect on their food security status. This means that an increase in the income of the peri-urban farming households by a unit, increases the probability of the households to be food secure. Also, the coefficient of household size was statistically significant at 1% and had a negative effect on food security status of peri-urban farming households with the marginal effect value of -0.12. This implies that, if household size increases by one unit, the probability that the peri-urban farming households would be food insecure increases. Seven coping strategies were used to cushion the effect of food insecurity by the food insecure households in the study area. The most widely used coping strategy was the “withdrawal of children from school” while the least used was the “purchase of food on credit”. It could be recommended that awareness campaigns on the importance of family planning should be done in the state as the fewer the number of people to feed, the more food secure a household will tend to be, ceteris paribus and also, an attempts should be made to increase the income of households suffering food insecurity in the area. Such attempts could include membership of Cooperative Societies and access to credit facilities.