Assessment of Food Insecurity Coping Strategies among Farming Households in Edo and Delta States, Nigeria

Abstract

Food insecurity is a known characteristic of rural households in developing countries, Nigeria inclusive. The study was therefore conducted to investigate food security status of farming households as well as the coping strategies employed in the study area. The study employed a multi-stage sampling procedure to select 400 households for the study. Data collected were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics as well as food security index. Descriptive statistics revealed that the mean age of household head and farm size were 49.7±11.8 years and 3.7±2.1 hectares, respectively. The food security index revealed that 53.3 percent of the sampled households were food secure while 46.7 percent of them were food insecure. Logistic regression results revealed that social capital (p≤0.01), farming experience (p≤0.01), farm size (p≤0.01) and off-farm income (p≤0.01) were positive determinants of food security in the area while age of household head (p≤0.01) negatively influenced food security status of the farming households in the area. The major food insecurity coping strategies employed by the households were borrowing to buy food, reducing the number of and modifying cooking. Therefore, stakeholders should put in place policy thrust and programmes that would encourage membership of association, enhance access to farm land as well as income from sources other than farming.