DETERMINANTS OF HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY AMONG MICROVEG PROJECT BENEFICIARIES IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Achievement of no poverty and zero hunger of the Sustainable Development Goals is hinged on implementation of development interventions. The MicroVeg project which synergises fertiliser microdosing with indigenous vegetable production is one of such interventions targeted towards economic and food security among resource poor farm families in southwestern Nigeria. Endline project report reflected a boost in household food security of project beneficiaries. However, factors which accounted for the boost were not adequately documented. Therefore, determinants of household food security among MicroVeg project beneficiaries in southwestern Nigeria were investigated.

A four-stage sampling procedure was used. Four states (Ekiti, Kwara, Lagos and Osun) were randomly selected. Thereafter, five, seven, 10 and 12 Project Sites (PS) constituting 40% were randomly selected proportionate to size, from Lagos, Kwara, Osun and Ekiti states, respectively. Subsequently, 40% of Farm Groups (FG) were selected from which 40% of Project Beneficiaries (PB) were randomly sampled, giving a total of 28 FG and 277 PB. Interview schedule was used to elicit information on respondents’ socioeconomic and enterprise characteristics, motivating factors for growing vegetables, Indigenous Vegetables Productivity (IVP), food consumption pattern, monthly household food and non-food expenditure, coping strategies and household food security. Indices of: farmland holding (marginal:˂1.0; small:1.0-1.9; medium:2.0-2.9; large:≥ 3.0) ha, IVP (low: ≤ 17,029.57, high: 17,029.58-190,000.00)kg/ha and food security using FANTA scale (food secure:0.00-10.22; food insecure:10.23-33.00) were generated. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, Pearson product moment correlation, ANOVA and multiple linear regression at α0.05.

Age, farm size, household size, farming experience and annual farm income of beneficiaries were 46.20±14.05 years, 2.10±3.40ha, 7.00±5.20 persons, 20.40±12.70 years and ₦864,844.90±1,447,850.00, respectively. Most PB (83.0%) sourced farm credit from personal savings, while 46.9% were marginal scale farmers. Respondents were motivated to grow vegetables by personal and socioeconomic influence factor (λ = 0.88), profitability and cash-flow influence factor (λ = 0.51) and family background and incentive influence factor (λ = 0.91). Most PB (72.6%) recorded low IVP. Food items mostly consumed weekly were yam (18.28±12.20kg), maize (6.07±5.25kg) and cowpea (4.63±4.30kg). Monthly household expenditure on food, vegetable farms, children education and savings were ₦28,592.06±25,142.67, ₦32,859.78±64,086.80, ₦33,568.84±36,189.18 and ₦38,959.03±73,739.81, respectively. Coping strategies mostly used were modified cooking method (0.75), substituting commonly bought food items with cheaper ones (0.74) and reduced number of meals (0.72). More than half (51.3%) of PB’s households were food secure. Dependency ratio (r=0.065), indigenous vegetable output (r=0.141), farm income (r=0.090) and non-farm income (r=0.010) were significantly related to household food security. No significant difference existed in household food security among PB across the selected states. Age (β=0.162), dependency ratio (β=0.350), total farm size (β=0.073), vegetable farm size (β=3.384) and income from vegetables (β=6.100) significantly increased household food security.

Household food security of MicroVeg project beneficiaries in southwestern Nigeria was determined by age, dependency ratio, total farm size, indigenous vegetables farm size and income from indigenous vegetables.