ANALYSIS OF THE DETERMINANTS OF FOOD SECURITY AND COPING STRATEGIES OF RURAL HOUSEHOLDS IN KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA
ANALYSIS OF THE DETERMINANTS OF FOOD SECURITY AND COPING STRATEGIES OF RURAL HOUSEHOLDS IN KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA
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Date
2020-01
Authors
LAAH, Emmanuel Duniyo
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Abstract
In recent times, the global focus has been on food security and poverty alleviation. This
is in response to increasing food insecurity as a result of rapid growth in the world
population without a corresponding increase in food production at all levels. The study
analysed the determinants of food security and coping strategies of rural households in
Kaduna State Nigeria, with specific focus on the types of food crops grown, food
culture and practices, determinants of food security, constraints affecting food security,
and households coping strategies adopted. Both primary and secondary sources of data
were used and 384 sampled size was used to collect data randomly from purposively
selected rural communities. The study used both quantitative and qualitative data
obtained from sampled households across purposively selected Local Governments
Areas in the State, using questionnaire, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and
Observations. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics; Principal Component
Analysis (PCA) was used in estimating the factors constraining achievement of
household food security. Also, Coping Strategies Index (CSI) and HFIAS model were
adopted to determine the food security status of the population, while Tobit and Probit
regressions were used to assess the factors influencing the achievement of food security
status in the study area. The findings revealed that maize (96%) and rice (72%) were
majorly produced staple crops; vegetables like okra (45%), tomatoes (44%) and pepper
(37%) ranked high in production; while poultry (69%) was found to be majorly reared
in the study area. The result of the HFIAS model and CSI indicated that most of the
households investigated were food secure with 64% and 84% respectively; while the
Tobit model revealed that socio-economic characteristics of the farming households
such as sex (-2.368) and education (2.636) were significant factors at 1% influencing the food security status of the farming households in the study area. Moreover, the
perceived coping strategies adopted in cushioning the effects of food insecurity include
reducing the size of meals, swapping consumption to less preferred cheaper foods and
reducing the number of meals per day with mean values of 1.675, 1.7593, 1.476 and
1.0263 respectively. Further, the study revealed that reduced availability of labour (out
migration) (3.009), flooding (2.990), rapid population growth (2.968), draught (2.817)
and pest and diseases (2.696) ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th respectively as leading
constraints to food security among rural households in Kaduna State. As such, three
factors retained through factor analysis with eigenvalues >1 with a total variance 63.5%
are social and human capital deficiency accounts for 40.6% of the variance, the second
environmental capital deficiency (9.7%) and the third weak economic and production
resources (7.2%). The hypothesis tested using the tobit model revealed a 55%) variation
in the level of food security is explained by variations in the specified explanatory
variables. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected and it was concluded that socioeconomic
variables such as household size (3.664), level of education (4.125) and
occupation (-2.540) were found to be important correlates which affect food security
level. Based on the findings, the study recommends that rural households should
embrace improved food production technologies; adopt family planning measures to
cope with the increasing population. Government and the civil society should encourage
income and occupational diversification and value chain in primary products; establish
training centres and improve the people access to research innovations in order to equip
and update them with basic skills for the better running of their farms and intensify
support for appropriate food storage and preservation techniques at the household and
village levels to ensure food availability throughout the year.
Description
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN RURAL
DEVELOPMENT
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT,
FACULTY OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES,
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERITY,
ZARIA, NIGERIA
Keywords
ANALYSIS,, COPING STRATEGIES,, RURAL HOUSEHOLDS,, KADUNA STATE,, NIGERIA., FOOD SECURITY,