Analysis of food insufficiency transition and determinants in rural Nigeria: Evidence from farming households in Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the dynamics of food insufficiency and its determinants among farming households in Southwestern Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

A combination of cluster and systematic random sampling was used to select 40 households in each local government area of the selected two states. This gives a total of 160 households per state and 320 households in all for the first data collection. Visiting the same households during the second data collection, only 150 households’ data were useful for analysis. Panel primary data were adopted and they were collected in two periods of late and early rain, respectively, over a period of nine months. Primary data were collected with the aid of a well-structured questionnaire, administered on farming households in the area of study. The needed information was collected through the use of interview schedules/questionnaires.

Findings

The transition of food insufficiency households to food sufficiency indicated a differential of 4.25 percent, and the transition of food sufficiency to food insufficiency a differential of 9.33 percent. During the agricultural harvest season more households moved to food sufficiency status (16 percent), while off season insufficiency status was 25.3 percent. The probability of households escaping food insufficiency is 0.25, and the probability of households entering food insufficiency is 0.38. The study provides evidence of transient and high incidence of food insufficiency.

Originality/value

Past studies of this nature only captured the food insufficiency status of households using a snapshot study. Hence, this study brought in innovation by examining the dynamics of food sufficiency/insufficiency in two periods. Therefore the question this study asks is: can a farm-household be food sufficient over a particular period of time and food insufficient in other time?

Citation

Apata, T. (2017), "Analysis of food insufficiency transition and determinants in rural Nigeria: Evidence from farming households in Southwestern Nigeria", British Food Journal, Vol. 119 No. 4, pp. 934-951. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-04-2016-0136