This study was carried out to estimate the extent of food security and its determinants among rural households in Nigeria. Data for this study was obtained from 180 rural households consisting of 1260 members through the use of a structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed with a descriptive technique and a less restrictive multinomial logistic regression model. The result found most rural households to be food insecure as they measure high on the food insecurity scale. Age, gender, marital status, access to credit, dependency ratio, household size, ownership of farmland and farming experience significantly influence food security categories. The study concluded that: female-headed married households were more food secure than male-headed households; an increase in age of household heads makes it more likely to be food secure, and so does access to credit facilities; conversely, an increase in family size and in the dependency ratio makes it less likely to be food secure. The study recommends that there should be provision and proper monitoring of credit facilities to small farmers in other to increase their scale of operation and improve their food security status. Also, adequate attention should be given to policy measures that address family planning in order to reduce the household size to a level the household heads can adequately cater for.

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The cocoa sector in Nigeria has experienced decline in production, yield, exports coupled with its inability to attain global standards and targets and, gradual loss of competitiveness at the world market. Trade liberalization was government’s panacea to the sector’s problem although, cocoa competitiveness remains an issue since liberalization. Therefore, the relationship between trade liberalization policy and competitiveness of Nigeria’s cocoa exports was examined in this study using data for the period 1961-2017. Cocoa market share was used to measure competitiveness while analytical tools employed were: ADF test, Johansen co-integration test and the vector error correction model (VECM). Market share, quantity of cocoa export and inflation rate were stationary at original level while others, at first difference. The co-integration test showed seven co-integrating equations. Trade liberalization policy was found to be an important driver of competitiveness. In addition, area harvested, production quantity and export quantity positively influenced competitiveness while world price of cocoa, interest rate on agricultural loans, exchange rate and trade liberalization influenced negatively. Therefore, appropriate trade policy formulation and implementation is recommended while, specific attention should be paid to monetary policies and cocoa production by the government.