URBANISATION AND HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY IN SOUTH WEST NIGERIA

Abstract

Rising urbanisation influences the structure of household food consumption pattern. Preliminary findings show that urban food insecurity persists despite improvement in agri-food system, changing demographics, income growth and economic opportunities attributed to urbanisation. Empirical evidence of urbanisation effect on household food consumption and food security is limited. Hence, effect of urbanisation on household food security in South West Nigeria was investigated.

A four-stage sampling procedure was employed. Oyo and Ekiti States were randomly selected from South West zone of Nigeria. Ibadan and Ado Ekiti were purposively selected from each state, being the most urbanised locations. Nine Enumeration Areas (EAs) were randomly selected from each location. A total of 482 households were randomly selected from the EAs proportionate to size. Data were collected on socioeconomic characteristics (age, sex, educational status, household size, occupational status, monthly income, employment status, membership of social groups), urban characteristics (housing, health facilities), quantities and expenditure of food groups consumed (cereals, Root and Tuber-RT, legumes, meat, Fat and Oil-FO, Fruit and Vegetables-FV and Other Foods-OF). Urbanicity Index (UI) was classified into Low Urban, (LU: 0-34.9%), Medium Urban, (MU: 35.0-64.9%) and High Urban, (HU: 65.0-100.0%) using principal component analysis. Dietary Diversity Index (DDI) was grouped into low (0-4), medium (5-9) and high (10-12) using FAO classification. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, quadratic almost ideal demand system, berry index and multinomial logit regression model at α0.05.

Age of household heads was 47.35±9.85 years with household size of 5.23±1.56 persons and monthly income of N51,124.31±17,808.95. The LU, MU and HU households were 34.9%, 40.6% and 24.5%, respectively. Across UI categories, RT had the highest budget share in LU (34.0%), MU (26.1%) and HU (28.2%). Expenditure elasticity values for LU, MU and HU increased by 1.16, 1.41 and 2.42 for meat and 0.45, 1.11 and 1.18 for OF, respectively. Demand increased for cereals by membership of social groups (β=0.0021), occupational status (β=0.0012), income (β=0.0012); RT by household size (β=0.0006); legume by income (β=0.0013); meat by UI (β=0.0014); FV by household size (β=0.0008), UI (β=0.0014); and OF by income (β=0.0018); but decreased for cereals by household size (β=-0.0006) and for RT by income (β=-0.0012) and UI (β=-0.0011). Highest percentage in low, medium and high DDI were found in LU (16.3%), HU (57.9%) and MU (44.9%), respectively. Food Security (FS) line was two-third mean per capita food expenditure (N1,758.67k/week) and mean DDI was 7.23±0.06. Expenditure and DDI of food secure households were 25.6% and 10.6%, respectively. Being in male headed households (β=0.83), membership of social groups (β=1.39), occupational status (β=0.88) and UI (β=1.88) increased FS by expenditure while being in male headed households (β=1.28), employment status (β=1.65), educational status (β=0.86), income (β=1.69) and UI (β=1.74) increased FS by DDI. Combining expenditure and DDI, FS increased by being in male headed households (β=0.70), educational status (β=0.71), income (β=1.55) and membership of social groups (β=1.01) but decreased by household size (β=-0.36).

Increasing urbanisation improved household food security through wider access to food and consumption of diverse diet across categories in South West Nigeria.

Keywords: Urbanicity, Dietary diversity, Urban household, Food expenditure, Food Security status. Word Count: 499