Changing Food Consumption Patterns and Land Requirements for Food in the Six Geopolitical Zones in Nigeria

Abstract

Research on food consumption in Nigeria has mainly focused on food intake, household diversity, and purchasing power. We investigated a knowledge gap for food consumed by households and the land requirements for food resulting from household consumption patterns. The food consumed and the household size determine the land requirement for food. Therefore, a quantity-based analysis and a land demand methodology were applied to derive household food quantity and land requirements for food respectively. The results show that a greater percentage of household income is spent on cereals and starchy roots as the main source of calories and that cowpea is a secondary food option for households. In addition, households are changing their dietary intake from rice to maize and rice to cassava and yams as a cheaper alternative and experts’ measurements of food security at the household level indicates that households in our study are moderately food insecure. Other findings showthat the country’s specific and per capita land requirements for food have gradually increased between 2000 and 2018. Across the six geopolitical zones, Northern regions with higher populations have high land requirements for food, especially for rice and maize (cereals), while Southern regions have high land requirements for cassava and yams (starchy roots) due to their respective consumption and household sizes. In addition, from our study, the land requirements for food show the actual cropland area of South South fed 5000 households. Consequently, a scenario analysis shows that the land requirements for food in our study exceeds the entire geographical area of Nigeria. Therefore, continued population growth without improved living standards and adequate food production output per hectare will further exacerbate food insecurity and land shortage in Nigeria.

Association between dietary patterns and lipid profile of older adults in Kogi State, Nigeria

“…Evidence has shown that starchy roots, cereals, and legume are commonly consumed foods in Nigeria. This explains why the older persons consume cereals and tuber-based diet 23,24 . Roots and tubers such as yam and cassava are staple foods which provide calories in West African diets but are poor in other nutrients 25 .…”

Are people the greatest asset: talent management in SME hotels in Nigeria during the COVID-19 crisis

“…According to Saunders et al (2012), this method allows the researchers to encompass the key geographical zones of the country in which the study is being conducted. Nigeria has a population of over 200 million (National Population Commission, 1988/2022), with 36 states – grouped into six geopolitical zones: North Central, North East, North West, South West, South East and South (Chiaka et al , 2022). While Abuja falls within the North central, Lagos South West and Port-Harcourt South (Adewuyi and Emmanuel, 2018; Chiaka et al , 2022), these states are among the three Nigerian major cosmopolitan and commercial cities, where people from nearly all Nigerian tribes/regions live and work (Avis, 2019).…”

Spatial Assessment of Land Suitability Potential for Agriculture in Nigeria

“…The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that Nigeria has about 70.8 million hectares of arable land [40]. As of 2020, the cropland area in the country showed that the Northern area has a total of 37,382,786 million hectares, and the Southern part encompasses 7,966,500 million hectares [41]. From Statista data [42], the percentage distribution of crops cultivated across the country in 2019 was as follows: rice (14.1%), maize (49%), millet (19.9%), guinea corn (29.6%), cowpea (20.9%), cassava (47%), yam (25.8%), and cocoyam (7.7%).…”