RURAL LIVELIHOODS AND FOOD INSECURITY AMONG FARMING HOUSEHOLDS IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Rural livelihoods have been the subject of empirical analysis in development studies because they play important roles in mitigating Food Insecurity (FI). In Nigeria, the incidence of FI is higher among the rural populace, particularly the peasant farming households, than urban households. Previous studies have linked aggregate measure of rural livelihoods to FI with little attention to contributions of specific components to FI. Hence, the influence of rural livelihoods on FI status of farming households in Southwestern Nigeria was investigated. A five-stage sampling procedure was used. Osun and Ekiti States were purposively selected based on poverty incidence in Southwestern Nigeria. Iwo and Osogbo ADP zones were randomly selected from Osun, while Ikole and Ikere were selected from Ekiti. Eleven Local Government Areas were randomly selected from the two states. Forty six villages were randomly chosen proportionate to size, while 400 farming households were selected from the villages. Semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain information on socioeconomic characteristics (age, Being Married-BM, Household Size-HS, Farming Experience-FE, education), livelihoods’ assets (Natural Asset-NA, Physical Asset-PA, Human Asset-HA, Financial Asset-FA and Social Asset-SA), income sources, food consumed and agro-ecological zones. Others included Dependency Ratio-DR, Access to National Grid-ANG and Access to Irrigation-AI. Households that pursued On-farm (ONF), On-farm with Off-farm (ONF-OF), On-farm with Non-farm (ONF-NF) and combined Onfarm, Off-farm and Non-farm (ONF-OF-NF) livelihoods were classified based on their income sources. Households were classified as Core Food-Insecure (CFI), Moderately FoodInsecure (MFI) and Non Food-Insecure (NFI) based on food consumed. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, principal component analysis, income portfolio analysis, multinomial logit model, food consumption scores and ordered probit model at 𝛼0.05 < Age of household heads was 51.9±11.4 years, while HS was 8±2.9 persons. Access to NA- 52.9%, PA-63.3%, HA-77.8% and SA-72.6% was high, while FA-37.3% was poorly endowed. On-farm (3.6%), ONF-OF (17.8%), ONF-NF (19.7%) and ONF-OF-NF (58.9%) were the choices of livelihoods pursued. The probability of specialising in ONF livelihood was reduced by DR (-0.0377). The probability of pursuing ONF-NF was increased by ANG (0.0744) and DR (0.0690), while BM (-0.0841) reduced it. Post Primary Education-PPE (- 0.2502) and DR (-0.0544) reduced the probability of pursuing ONF-OF-NF livelihood, while BM (0.1584) increased it. Households that were CFI, MFI and NFI were 4.38%, 35.89% and 59.73%, respectively. The probability of being NFI was increased by age (0.0115), BM (0.1073), HS (0.0166), PPE (0.1090), AI (0.1376), rain forest zone (0.1417), and FA (0.1630), while extension services (-0.0040) and ANG (-0.1620) reduced it. Extension services (0.0030), FE (0.0052), and ANG (0.1202) increased the probability of being MFI, while age (-0.0085), BM (-0.0706), PPE (-0.0809), HS (-0.0123), AI (-0.1020) and rainforest zone (-0.1051), reduced it. Extension services (0.0011), FE (0.0018), and ANG (0.0419) increased the probability of being CFI, while age (-0.0030), BM (-0.0277), PPE (-0.0282), HS (-0.0043), AI (-0.0356), rain-forest zone (-0.0366) and FA (-0.4210) reduced it. On-farm rural livelihood relative to combined on-farm with off-farm and non-farm, reduced food insecurity among farming households in Southwestern Nigeria.