The study assessed expenditure on food among urban households in Benue State of Nigeria. This was done with the view to assess household food expenditure and its implications for food security status of the households; identify and assess determinants that influence household food demand; and analyze the determinants of food security of household urban population. The selection of the sample for the study involved a three-stage sampling technique. Data was collected from 150 households through a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, food security index, multiple linear regression and logit regression were employed to analyze data. The results indicated a mean household expenditure on food that stands at N21,748.00 40.3 USD) per month. Based on the food security index the households that spent at least N14, 498.67 (93.5 USD) on food per month were categorized as food secure and those who spent below this value were categorized as food insecure. Furthermore, 67.3% of the households were food secure, while 32.7% were food insecure. The study revealed that size of household, income of the household head and price of food comodities were identified as major factors influencing household food demand decisions in the study area. Moreover, size of the household and income of the household head were the main determinants of food demand in the study area (F = 19.78; p ≤ 0.05) just as age and income of household head as well as household size influence the probability that a household will be food secure(χ2 = 13.77; p > 0.05). The study recommends that household heads should be educated on the need to control family size and to be self-empowered without necessarily depending on government as a way of enhancing their income to improve the household and economic conditions. The government should strengthen its policy on grain reserves in order to control food prices during scarcity and subsidize farm i nputs and availability to boost food production and thus lower food prices.

Sustainable food production is not negotiable if food security is to be achieved. Recent statistics show increasing food insecurity issues in Nigeria despite government policy and programmes in the agricultural sector. The study specifically described agriculture growth trend under three policy regimes and analysed the effects of agricultural sector policy on food security in Nigeria between 1960 and 2020. Secondary data on agricultural output, gross deficit financing, labour employed in the agricultural sector, land, and population were obtained from World Development Indicators (WDI) of the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization Statistics (FAOSTAT), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The data were analysed using trend analysis and Dummy Variable Regression (DVR) model. The Instantaneous Growth Rate (IGR) and compound growth rate (CGR) were respectively 3 percent and 7.2 percent in 1960 – 1969, 0.5 percent and 1.2 percent in 1970 – 1985, and 3.4 percent and 8.1 percent in 1986 – 2020; the country experienced stagnated pattern of growth in the agriculture sector within the oil boom and policy reconstruction period with an instantaneous and compound growth rate of 0.5 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively. An IGR and CGR of 3.4 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively were recorded during the policy stabilization era with an accelerating growth pattern. The intercept of agricultural output and per capita food production of the period with complete agricultural policy document differs from the period with no policy document by 36.8 percent and 39.8 percent, respectively, revealing an increase in the value of agricultural output and per capita food production in the period with a national policy document. The study concludes that availability of agricultural sector policy document directly impacts food security. The post-estimation tests on the models confirmed that policy implications emanating from this study are adoptable to improve food security in Nigeria through the agricultural sector policy. Proper and efficient policy mix to support agricultural production was recommended. Key words: Agricultural policy, Agricultural output, Acceleration, Dummy Variable Regression (DVR), Food security, Sustainability, Nigeria