Assessing Food Insecurity and Its Drivers among Smallholder Farming Households in Rural Oyo State, Nigeria: The HFIAS Approach

Abstract

Hunger and food insecurity take center stage in most debates in Africa, and in recent times with serious concerns about Nigeria. This study assessed food insecurity among farming households in rural Oyo State, Nigeria, using cross-sectional datasets from 211 farming households through a multi-stage sampling procedure. The Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) module was employed in assessing food insecurity status of farming households, and the ordered logit model (OLM) was used to analyze factors influencing food insecurity among farming households. The results revealed that 12.8% of the farming households were food secure while 87.2% had varying levels of food insecurity. The OLM results indicated that age, household head’s years of schooling, gender, farm size, farm experience, non-farm income, food expenditure, and access to extension service significantly influenced food insecurity among farming households. Based on the findings, efforts should be geared towards promoting households’ education-related intervention programs in order to improve their nutrition-related knowledge that can enhance their food security status. Additionally, there should be provision of rural infrastructural facilities such as piped water, rural electrification, and healthcare service that promote healthy living and enhance households’ agricultural productivity.

Nutrition Outcomes of Under-five Children of Smallholder Farm Households: Do Higher Commercialization Levels Lead to Better Nutritional Status?

“…There are 6 states in South-West. Agriculture is regarded as the major occupation of about 70% of the rural population (Lawal & Samuel, 2010 ; Otekunrin et al, 2021b ).…”

Climate change and food security in selected Sub-Saharan African Countries

“…There was also evidence of armed confrontations over natural resources which leads to insecurity in the country. Similarly, Otekunrin et al ( 2021 ) studied food insecurity particularly among the farming households in Nigeria. They employed the multi-stage sampling technique on a cross section of 211 farming households.…”

“…Africa houses the second highest number of people with food insecurity after Asia with an alarming 25.9% (346.6 million) in 2020 from 17.7% (203.5 million) in 2014. More precisely, West Africa is the most affected region in the continent with about 28.8% of its population (115.7 million) exposed to food insecurity in 2020 from 8.6% in 2014 (Otekunrin et al, 2021 ; FAO et al . 2021 ).…”

Coping Mechanism and Food Security in Pandemic Times: A Systematic Literature Review

“…The most widely used unit of analysis in research is the individual with 78 publications. The unit of analysis in the form of individuals based on the findings in this SLR are farmers (36), households (37), adolescents (38), consumers (39), adults and older (40), providers of early childhood care and education (41), students (42). The next unit of group analysis based on the findings in this article is a comparison of food insecurity and short-term coping strategies for urban and rural households (23).…”