ANALYSIS OF FOOD SECURITY AMONG FARMING HOUSEHOLDS IN IMO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Prevalence of food insecurity has remained a concern in Imo State and indeed the Sub-Saharan Africa. Hence, this study investigated the analysis of food security among farming households in Imo State, Nigeria. Multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select 144 farmers for this study. Information on the objectives of this study was elicited from the sampled respondents through a well-structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Food security index and Probit regression model. Results showed that the mean age of the farmers was 64 years, 7 persons per household and 12 years of educational attainment. Results also showed that only 35.4% of the farming households were able to meet the recommended calorie intake of 2500kcal per capita per day, while remaining was not. This result portrays that the study area is food insecure since the proportion of food insecure households is greater than that of food secure ones. The food surplus/insecurity gap index showed that food secure households exceeded the calorie requirement by 314%, while the food insecure households fell short of the calorie requirement by 76%. Age, household size, educational attainment, farming experience, farm size, access to credit, quantity of own production were determinants of food security status of the farm households. The study recommended that government in collaboration with other stakeholders in agriculture should strengthen existing policies in food crop production.

Full text

INT’L JOURNAL OF AGRIC. AND RURAL DEV. SAAT FUTO 2017
Volume 20(2): 3021-3027, 2017 3021
1*Osuji, E. E., 2Ehirim, N. C., 3Balogun, O. L. and Onyebinama, I. C.
1Department of Agricultural Economics, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, Nigeria
2Department of Agricultural Economics, Federal University of TechnologyOwerri, Imo State
3Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, Babcock University IIishan-Remo, Ogun State
All correspondence to osujiemeka2@yahoo.com
Abstract
Prevalence of food insecurity has remained a
concern in Imo State and indeed the Sub-Saharan
Africa. Hence, this study investigated the analysis of
food security among farming households in Imo
State, Nigeria. Multi-stage random sampling
technique was used to select 144 farmers for this
study. Information on the objectives of this study
was elicited from the sampled respondents through a
well- structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed
using descriptive statistics, Food security index and
Probit regression model. Results showed that the
mean age of the farmers was 64 years, 7 persons per
household and 12 years of educational attainment.
Results also showed that only 35.4% of the farming
households were able to meet the recommended
calorie intake of 2500kcal per capita per day, while
remaining was not. This result portrays that the
study area is food insecure since the proportion of
food insecure households is greater than that of
food secure ones. The food surplus/insecurity gap
index showed that food secure households exceeded
the calorie requirement by 314%, while the food
insecure households fell short of the calorie
requirement by 76%. Age, household size,
educational attainment, farming experience, farm
size, access to credit, quantity of own production
were determinants of food security status of the farm
households. The study recommended that
government in collaboration with other stakeholders
in agriculture should strengthen existing policies in
food crop production.
Keywords: Food Security, Farming Households,
Farm Productivity, Probit Model, Imo State
Introduction
Food is the basic need and necessity of life that
must be satisfied before any other emerging need
(World bank, 2002). Its importance is seen in the
fact that it is a basic means of sustenance and
adequate food intake, in terms of quantity and
quality, is a key for healthy and productive life. The
importance of food is also shown in the fact that it
accounts for a substantial part of a typical Nigerian
household budget (Omonona and Agoi, 2007). Food
security focuses primarily on food availability and to
some degree the price stability of basic food stuffs at
the international and national level (Clay, 2002;
FAO, 2005). Food security exists when all people, at
all times have physical, social and economic access
to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets
their dietary needs and food preferences for an active
and healthy life (Idachaba, 2006; Duffuor, 2011;
FAO, 2012). According to FAO (2010), food
security underlies the consumption, at any time, by
all members of the household (men, women, boys,
and girls) of an alimentation adequate in quality and
quantity, for an active healthy life. The concept of
food security includes both physical and economic
access to address people’s needs and preferences. In
that way, a household should have the possibility to
consider all its members at all times. FAO (2013)
enlisted three main steps towards achieving food
security such as; food availability, food accessibility,
and food utilization. Firstly, food must be available
in sufficient quantities, continuously and
consistently. The concept refers to stocks and
production in a given area, and the capacity to
import food from elsewhere. It implies self-
sufficiency of a household, of the community, and of
the nation as a whole. Secondly, people must be able
to regularly acquire food, through home and local
production or importation. Food access suggests the
availability of sufficient resources to obtain
nutritious food, without resorting to emergency aid
or other coping strategies. Food access refers equally
to sharing practices within the household. Hence,
household food access is the ability to obtain
sufficient food of guaranteed quality and quantity
to meet nutritional requirements of all household
members. Here, the food should be at right place at
the right time and people should have economic
freedom or purchasing power to buy adequate and
nutritious food. Lastly, there must be absolute
utilization of available food (includes storage,
processing, preservation, cooking, and consumption)
and also it must be accessible to farm households
without waste.
However, the concept of food security cannot be
complete without relating it to the households’ level.
A household is considered food secure when its
occupants do not live in hunger or fear of
starvation (FAO, 2001). Households’ food security
can be defined as the ability of individuals to access
an adequate supply of food, on stable basis, and in
sustainable way (World Bank, 2006). FAO (2001)
further opined household food security as access by
all people at all times to enough food (of good
quality) for an active, healthy life. Consequently,
absence of food security is food insecurity; food
insecurity on the other hand represents lack of access
ANALYSIS OF FOOD SECURITY AMONG FARMING HOUSEHOLDS IN IMO STATE, NIGERIA

INT’L JOURNAL OF AGRIC. AND RURAL DEV. SAAT FUTO 2017
Volume 20(2): 3021-3027, 2017 3022
to enough food or exists when people do not have
adequate physical, social or economic access to
food which can either be chronic or on
temporary basis (Amaka et al. 2016). They further
opined that chronic food insecurity arises from lack
of resources to acquire and produce food thereby
leading to persistent inadequate diet. FAO (2010)
refers to food insecurity as the consequences of
inadequate consumption of nutritious food bearing in
mind that the physiological use of food is within the
domain of nutrition and health. When individuals
cannot provide enough food for their families, it
leads to hunger and poor health. Poor health reduces
one’s ability to work and live a productive healthy
life (Otaha, 2013). According to Cruz (2010) and
Valdés et al., (2010), majority (more than 80 per
cent) of the smallholder farmers in the world are
food insecure and depend on land as their
primary source of livelihoods. Studies (Nweze
and Gloria, 2013; Out et al., 2014) have identified
low agricultural productivity among others as
responsible for food shortage and insecurity among
farm households. Cases of malnutrition and under
nutrition are growing by the day. As a result, the
energy food intake requirements of most farm
households have fallen far below the international
standard (Olajide and Dopple, 2013). Similarly, the
changing climatic pattern and over reliance on rain-
fed agriculture pose a serious food security
challenge in rural areas. Other associated threats to
food security include; inconsistent government
policies, gender inequality, poor extension services,
crude agricultural practices, poverty, illiteracy,
population increase, corruption, political instability,
extreme weather conditions, pests and livestock
diseases, and environmental issues such as erosion,
flood, drought, desertification, etc these impacts
negatively on crop production thereby leading to
food reduction (Nweze and Gloria, 2013; Olajide,
2014). This study set out to determine the food
security indices of farmers, determinants of food
security status as well as the socio-economic
characteristics of the farmers in Imo State.
Materials and Methods
This study was carried out in Imo State, Nigeria with
a land area of 5,530 sqkm. The State lies between
latitudes 4045IN and 7015IN and Longitudes 6050IE
and 7025IE. The State is located in the South-Eastern
rainforest belt of Nigeria. The State shares
boundaries with Abia and Cross Rivers State to the
East, Delta State to the West, Rivers State to the
South and Enugu and Anambra State to the North
(ISSYB, 2004). The State has a total of 27 Local
Government Areas (LGAs) which is divided into 3
Agricultural zones namely; Owerri, Orlu and
Okigwe. Across these zones, agriculture is a major
economic activity predominant amongst the people
of the state.Multi-stage sampling technique was
adopted for this study. First, two Local Government
Areas (L.G.As) were randomly selected from each
of the three agricultural zones. From these Local
Government Areas, three communities were chosen.
Finally, ten farmers were randomly selected from
each of these three communities, bringing a total of
one hundred and eighty (180) farmers. However, the
study made use of only 144 farmers due to the
invalidity in some of the sample instrument returned.
Data for this study were collected through primary
sources using a set of structured questionnaire. In
order to realize the objectives of the study,
Descriptive statistics, Food security index, and
Probit regression model were employed. Food
security index as adopted by Babatunde et al.,
(2007) and John et al. (2013) was used to analyze
the food security status of the farming households
based on the food security line. The FAO (2010)
recommended minimum daily energy requirement
per adult equivalent is 2500kcal; therefore this value
defines the food security line for the study.
Households which are below the food security line
are classified as food-insecure households while
those households that are equal or above the food
security line are classified as food-secured
households. Daily per capita calorie consumption of
each household and households’ daily calorie intake
were also estimated by dividing through with the
household size adjusted for adult equivalents using
the consumption factor for age–sex categories.
Hence, the food security index is given thus;
 =
-----------------------------Eqn. 1
Where
FSI = Food security index
HD = Households daily per capita calorie intake
RD = Recommended daily per capita calorie
requirement
Households’ calorie content was estimated using
food nutrient composition table of commonly eaten
foods in Nigeria which was converted into kilogram.
The energy content of 1kg of each foodstuff (maize,
cassava, rice, yam, plantain, etc) was used in this
study.Furthermore, food insecurity gap index (FIG),
food surplus gap index (FSG) and the headcount
ratio (HCR) of food security were calculated for the
sample households based on the food security index.
The food insecurity gap measures the extent to
which food insecure households on average fall
below the food security line and the food surplus gap
measures the extent by which food secure
households exceeded the food security line. The
headcount index measures the percentage of sampled
household that are food insecure/secure. The head
count ratio, food insecurity gap, and food surplus
gap as adopted by (Out et al., 2014) are defined as
follows;
Headcount index (Hfi) = 
-------------------Eqn. 2
Headcount index (Hfs) = 
------------------ Eqn. 3

INT’L JOURNAL OF AGRIC. AND RURAL DEV. SAAT FUTO 2017
Volume 20(2): 3021-3027, 2017 3023
Food insecurity gap index (FIG) =

∑ 
. 


Food surplus gap index (FSG)
=
∑ℎ

 = 
− − − .5
Where M = number of food insecure households; N
= total number of households in the sample; L =
number of food secure households; Gi = daily per
capita calorie deficiency or surplus for ith
household; Hfs = headcount index for food secured
households; Hfi = headcount index for food
insecured households; Yi = daily per capita calorie
consumption on food item of ith households; R=
recommended daily per capita calorie requirement.
Probit regression model was employed to assess the
determinants of food security among farming
households in the area. Probit model was used in this
study due to its simplicity in the interpretations of
the coefficients. The dependent variable in this case,
food security status is a binary variable which takes
a value of one (1) for food secured household and
zero (0) for food insecure household. The model as
adopted by Godwin and Aondonenge (2016) and
Oluyole et al. (2009) is implicitly specified as;
FSI = Xiβ + Ui
Where
FSI = Household food security status (food secure
households =1, food insecure households = 0)
β = Vector of the parameter estimates
Ui = Error term
Xi = Vector of explanatory variables: which
includes;
X1 = Age of Household (Years)
X2 = Gender of Household (male =1, female = 0)
X3 = Household Size (No. of Persons)
X4 = Educational Attainment (Years)
X5 = Farming Experience (Years)
X6 = Farm Size (Hectares)
X7 = Off-Farm Activity (Naira)
X8 = Household Income (Naira)
X9 = Access to Credit (Naira)
X10 = Quantity of Own Production (Kilogram)
Results and Discussion
Socio-Economic Characteristics of Household
Farmers in Imo State
Table 1 show that the mean age of the household
farmers’ was 64 years. This implies that they
farmers are getting older by the day and this might
have a tremendous influence on their output as well
as food security (Osuji, 2017). Mean household size
in the area was 7, this indicates that more of the
family labour which is very vital in farm production
is utilized, since majority of farmers in rural areas
uses more of family labour as against paid labour
(Ojogbo, 2010). The mean educational attainment of
the farmers was 12 years which implies that the
household farmers are relatively educated to take
critical decision concerning their farming
enterprises. Education enhances farmers’
innovativeness and effectiveness which aid food
output and security (Osuji, 2017). Farming
experience of the farmers was 18 years. This implies
that household farmers are well experienced to
increase their output and secure enough food for
family consumption. The mean farm size was 1.4
hectares which implies that farmers in the area
operated on small scale basis, hence cultivating less
than 2.0 hectares of land (Henri-Ukoha et al. 2013).
Household income has a mean value of N9,600
which connote low income of the households which
makes it difficult for them to purchase essential farm
inputs and implements.
Table 1: Socio-Economic Characteristics of Household Farmers in Imo State
Variable
Mean
Age of Household (Years)
64
Household Size (No. of Persons)
7
Educational Attainment (Years)
12
Farming Experience (Years)
18
Farm Size (Hectares)
1.4
Household Income (Naira)
9,600
Source: Field Survey, 2016
Food Security Indices of Farming Households in
Imo State
The distribution of food security indices of farming
households in the study area is presented in Table 2.
The result shows that 35.4% of the farming
households were food secured with an average food
security index of 2.96; hence, the farming
households that were able to meet the recommended
calorie intake of 2500kcal per capita per day.
However, 64.6% of the farming households were
food insecure with an average food security index of
0.81. This means the farming households that were
unable to meet the recommended daily per capita
calorie requirements of 2500kcal. This result further
portrays that the study area is likely food
insecure since the number of food insecure
households (93) is greater than food secure
households (51). This finding is consistent with that
of Nweze and Gloria (2013); John et al., (2013); and
Otu et al., (2014) that two third of the farming
households study were not food secured. Pooled
mean household size is 15 persons indicating 6
persons for food secured household and 9 persons
for food insecure household. The 9 persons for food

INT’L JOURNAL OF AGRIC. AND RURAL DEV. SAAT FUTO 2017
Volume 20(2): 3021-3027, 2017 3024
insecure household could portray adults who are
only dependent but do not contribute to food
provision. However, the average daily per capita
calorie intake for food secure household was
5744.21kcal, which is higher than the recommended
minimum daily calorie requirement of 2500kcal by
FAO (2010) and national average requirement of
2700 kcal (Babatunde et al. 2007). The average daily
per capita calorie intake of food insecure households
was 1970.44kcal, which is far lower than the
national average and the recommended minimum
daily calorie requirement. This result is also
consistent with Otu et al. (2014) that the average
daily per capita calorie intake of food insecure
households was far lower than the national average
and the recommended minimum requirement by
FAO (2010). The food surplus/insecurity gap index
which measures the extent of deviation from food
security line shows that food secure households
exceeded the calorie requirement by 314%, while the
food insecure households fell short of the calorie
requirement by 76%. This shows a wide margin
between the food secure and food insecure
households in the study area. The result further
revealed a head count ratio of 0.35 for food secured
household and 0.65 for food insecure household.
Table 2: Distribution of Food Security Indices of Farming Households in Imo State
Food Security Indices
Food secure households
Food insecure households
Pooled
Percentage of households
35.4
64.6
100
Number of households
51
93
144
Mean of household size
(Adult equivalent)
6.0
8.5
15
Mean Food security index
2.96
0.81
3.77
Std
0.42
0.026
0.446
Mean households daily
calorie intake(kcal)
49461.07
9622.06
59083.13
Mean household per
capita daily calorie intake (kcal)
5744.21
1970.44
7714.65
Food surplus/insecurity gap
3.14
0.76
4.0
Head count ratio
0.35
0.65
1
Source: Field survey, 2016
Determinants of Food Security Status of Farming
Households’ in Imo State
Table 3; presents the estimated determinants of food
security status of farming households’ in the study
area. The chi (ᵡ2) was highly significant at 1 percent
and this confirms the fitness of the model. The
Pseudo R-square of 0.8409 implies that all the
explanatory variables included in the model were
able to explain 84% of the variation in food security
status of the households. The log-likelihood ratio of
122.31 further confirms the fitness of the model in
explaining the probability of the effect of the
explanatory variables on household food security
status. The coefficient of educational attainment,
farming experience , farm size, access to credit,
quantity of own production were positive and
determinants of food security status of the farm
households while the coefficient of age of household
and household size showed an inverse determinants
of food security status of the farm households.
Gender of household, off-farm activity, and
household income were not statistically significant
which exclude them as determinants of food security
status of the farm households.
The coefficient of age was negative and significant
at 5%. This implies that food security declines with
increase in age. The inverse effects of the age of
household heads decrease the probability of
households being food secure, and this is consistent
with the findings of Agboola (2004) and Godwin
and Aondonenge (2016).
The coefficient of household size was significant at
5% and an inversely related with food security. This
implies that increase in household size decreases the
probability of households being food secure. An
increase in household size especially the non-
working members put pressure on consumption
than production and thus increases food insecurity
level of households (Feleke et al., 2003; Babatunde
et al., 2007; Ojogbo, 2010).
The coefficient of educational attainment was
positive and significant at 1% level. This indicates
that increase in educational levels of the farm
households increases the probability of the
households being food secure. The more educated a
farmer is the more food secure the farmer will
be. Level of education influence farmer’s adoption
rate which agrees with (Henri-Ukoha et al., 2013;
John et al., 2013).
The coefficient of farming experience was positive
and significant at 1% implying that increase in
farming experience of a farmer increases the
probability of the households being food secure. The
more experienced the farmer is, the more food
secure he will be. This affirms that experience
improves the adoption of innovation and improved
technology faster. An experienced household head
is expected to have more insight and ability to
diversify his or her production to minimize risk

INT’L JOURNAL OF AGRIC. AND RURAL DEV. SAAT FUTO 2017
Volume 20(2): 3021-3027, 2017 3025
of food shortage (Henri-Ukoha et al., 2013; John et
al., 2013).
Farm size was observed to be positive and
significant at 1%. This indicates that the larger the
farm size, the probability of the households being
food secured. This is consistent with a priori
expectation that food security of households
increases with increase in farm size. This could
mean that the larger the farm size, the higher will be
the plant population density, then the higher the
output. This agrees with Henri-Ukoha et al., (2013)
and Godwin and Aondonenge (2016).
The coefficient of access to credit was positive and
significant at 5% implying that the more access the
farmer has to credit, the probability of the
households being food secured. Credits enable farm
households to acquire productive resources such as
(improved planting materials, farm lands, fertilizers,
pesticides, etc) which boost food crop production.
This is consistent with a priori expectations and
supports Babatunde et al., (2007) and Pappoe
(2011)
Quantity of own production was also positive and
significant at 5%. The positive sign of the variable
indicates that the higher the output levels of
household, the greater the likelihood of food
security. Hence, the quantity of household own
production increases the probability of food security
of the households. This supports the findings of
Quinoo (2010), Pappoe (2011) and John et al.,
(2013).
Table 3: Estimated Determinants of Food Security Status of Farming Households
Variables
Coefficients
T
-
values
Std Error
Constant
0.1446
2.1063*
0.0687
Age of Household
-
0.6531
-
2.5212*
0.2590
Gender of Household
0.1601
1.2201NS
0.1312
Household Size
-
0.7014
-
2.7132*
0.2585
Educational Attainment
0.8821
3.3283**
0.2650
Farming Experience
0.2742
2.9804**
0.0920
Farm Size
0.1540
3.0425**
0.0506
Off
-
Farm Activity
0. 7514
1.0012NS
0.7504
Household Income
0.0710
1.3043NS
0.0544
Access to Credit
0.2013
3.3411**
0.0602
Quantity of Own Production
0.1814
3.9023**
0.0465
LR (
ᵡ
2
)
176.57**
Log likelihood
122.31
Pseudo (R
2
)
0.8409
N
144
Source: Field survey data, 2016.
Note: **; * indicates statistically significant at 1 percent, and 5 percent level of significance respectively. NS,
indicates non-significance
Conclusion and Recommendations
The findings of the study showed that only 35.4% of
the farming households were able to meet the
recommended calorie intake of 2500kcal per capita
per day, while 64.6% were not. This result portrays
that the study area is likely food insecure since the
proportion of food insecure households is greater
than that of food secure households. The food
surplus/insecurity gap index which measures the
extent of deviation from food security line shows
that food secure households exceeded the calorie
requirement by 314%, while the food insecure
households fell short of the calorie requirement by
76%. Educational attainment, farming experience,
farm size, access to credit, quantity of own
production were positive and determinants of food
security status of the farm households. To this end,
government in collaboration with other stakeholders
in agriculture should strengthen existing policies in
food crop production, review the land use policy,
introduce farmers’ agricultural education and
provide agricultural incentives to farmers. This will
help boost farm productivity with a resultant
increase in food output and food security in the area.
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