ANALYSIS OF FARM HOUSEHOLD AND COMMUNITY FOOD SECURITY IN KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA,
ANALYSIS OF FARM HOUSEHOLD AND COMMUNITY FOOD SECURITY IN KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA,
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Date
2015-07
Authors
OJELEYE, Oluwaseun Adebayo
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Abstract
This study was conducted to analyze farm households and community food security in
Kaduna state, Nigeria, by purposefully choosing two of the four agro ecological zones
of the state’s ADP; and the random choice of four LGAs and eight communities. The
analytical tools used include descriptive statistics, Food Security Index (FSI), multiple
regression (Tobit), Community Food Security Assessment Toolkit and Coping Strategy
Index. Data were collected using structured questionnaire administered to 244 farmers
and the use of focus groups. The result of the analysis revealed that about 80% of the
respondents were in the age range of 21-50 years and 87% had farming experiences
more than 10 years. In addition, about 66% of the farm households had farm income
less than N200,000 with an average N180,914.50k per annum, while for non-farm
income sources, only 69% of the respondents acquired income outside of farming
activities at a yearly average of N130,407.10k. Average farm holdings was 2.05ha as
75% of the farmers acquired farmlands through inheritance. The expenditure pattern of
households revealed that food expenditure accounts for 52% of total household
expenditure, with a yearly average found to be N113,351.10k. The chunk (72%) of food
expenses were on starchy food items, while for non-food expenditure, per capita
household medical expenses, came highest at an average of N21,093.03k, accounting
for 21% of total non-food expenditure annually. Most farmers sourced their food from
both own production and market buying. Only 41% of the respondents had experienced
food shortages in the last five years occurring mostly between July and August.
Amongst others, the cause of food shortage was noted to be the inadequacy of money to
procure food during lean seasons. Furthermore, the FSI of households obtained showed
that 66% of respondents were able to meet the daily calorie intake of 2260 kcal per
capita. The average FSI for food secured and insecure households were 1.45 and 0.85
respectively. The determinants of food security status as obtained from Tobit regression
were food security status perception, adjusted household size, per capita annual
expenditure on health of family members (at 1%), dependency ratio (at 5%), access and
usage of consumer credit and total crop production in grain equivalent (at 10%). The
assessment of community food security shows the profiling of each community’s socioeconomic
and demographic characteristics, profile of community food resources,
assessment of household food security, assessment of food availability and affordability
and assessment of community food production. The result of food coping strategy
analyses shows that the highly employed coping strategies during food crisis amongst
others, included buying from market (90%), eating less preferred food (79%),
borrowing money/food from friends/relations (72%) and sale of livestock (62%). The
coping strategy index also shows that about 41% of those that employed various coping
strategies had severe food crisis. Significant relationships were noted between food
insecurity level of severity, level of commitment to commercial motorcycling and
benevolent non-farm income (gifts). Based on the results of the survey,
recommendations were given to the farmers and the government accordingly.
Description
A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES,
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEGREE IN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS,
Keywords
ANALYSIS,, FARM HOUSEHOLD, COMMUNITY FOOD,, SECURITY,, KADUNA STATE,, NIGERIA.