INFLUENCE OF FOOD PREFERENCES ON RURAL AND URBAN HOUSEHOLDS’ FOOD SECURITY IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Food accessibility and availability are important factors of food security that influence household food preference. Rural Households (RH) and Urban Households (UH) differ in terms of food accessibility and availability, which may affect their food preferences and security. Unfortunately, food preference could lead to addiction to unhealthy food consumption which undermines quality of life and healthy development. Previous studies had been on rural-urban differences using gender and generational factors, while gap exists on the impact of food preferences on food security in both locations. Therefore, the influence of food preferences on RH and UH food security was investigated. A five-stage sampling procedure was used. Three states (Oyo, Ondo and Lagos) were randomly selected. Thereafter, Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the selected states were stratified into rural and urban LGAs. Then, 15% of the LGAs were randomly selected resulting in four, one and one rural LGAsand one, two and three urban LGAs from Oyo, Ondo and Lagos states, respectively to give 12 LGAs. Thereafter, three communitieswere randomly selected from each LGA to give 36 communities. From the selectedcommunities,135 RH and 189 UH were selected proportionate to size to give 324 respondents. Interview schedule was used to elicit information on respondents’ socio-economic characteristics, sources of information, Knowledge of Adequate Nutrition (KAN);Food Preference (FP), Challenges of Food Preference (CFP) and Food Security (FS). Indices of KAN (low, 4.00-18.39; high, 18.40-24.00), FP components (Cereals:low, 5.00-19.13; high, 19.14-25.00, Root and Tubers (RT):low, 5.00-18.16; high, 18.17-25.00, Meat, Dairy and Fish (MDF) products:low, 10.00-22.09; high, 22.10-30.00, Fruits and Vegetables (FV):low, 24.00-74.01; high, 74.02-100.00, FP: low, 52.00-133.42; high, 133.43-173.00) andFS (low, 2.00-20.30; high20.31-33.00) were generated. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, t-test and linear regression at α0.05. Respondents were aged 47.51±14.52 and 45.13±17.73 yearsin RH and UH, respectively. Respondents’ monthly income was ₦49,776.12±42,217.42 in RH and ₦73,941.05±55,182.05 in UH.Household size was 6.22±3.24 persons in RH and 6.33±2.27 persons in UH. The RH sourced information on food mostly fromradio (1.50±0.64) and family/friends (1.36±0.63), while social media (1.49±0.66) and family/friends (1.54±0.59)served as information sources for UH. Most RH (74.6%) and UH (72.1%) had high KAN. Cereals were highly preferred by 53.7% and 55.3% in RH and UH, respectively. Preference for RT was high among 55.2% in RH, but low among 55.6% in UH. Preference for MDF was low among 59.0% in RH, but high for 53.2% in UH. Preference for FV was high among 52.2% and 57.9% of RH and UH, respectively. Overall, FP was higher in UH (133.77±19.52)compared to RH (132.95±13.99) and was significant. The major CFP in RH were food availability (1.81±0.43) and food scarcity (1.63±0.63), while food availability (1.67±0.57) and health status (1.60±0.69) were challenges in UH. In RH and UH, 67.9% and 55.3% were food secure, respectively. Preference for the combinations of cereals/MDF(β=0.049) and RT/FV (β=0.010)influenced FS in RH, but insignificant inUH. Preferences for combinations of cereals/meat, dairy and fish products as well as roots/tubers and fruits/vegetables positively influenced food security in rural households in southwestern Nigeria.