The problem of food insecurity remains a challenge in developing countries, especially in rural areas. Despite the rising level of food insecurity, COVID-19 set in and was said to pose a threat to food security globally if adequate measures are not quickly put in place. This study, therefore, described the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents; examined the extent to which the rural households are food secure or otherwise during the COVID-19 pandemic and examine the drivers of food security status among rural households in South-East Nigeria. Primary data were collected from 200 households with the use of structured questionnaires. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, food security index and logistics regression. Results of the findings revealed that the majority of the household heads were male (92%), married (93.5%), educated (87.5%) and had an average age of 54 years. They had an average household size of 7 persons, an average farming experience of 22 years, an average monthly income of N14, 305.5 and majority (83%) do not belong to a cooperative society. Majority (69.5%) of the households were food insecure, while only (30.5%) were food secure. The food-secure households had an average household size of 5 persons, while the food insecure households had 9 persons in their households. The headcount ratio of food secure households was 0.30, while it was 0.70 for food-insecure households. This shows that at least two out of three persons were food insecure in the study area. The surplus/shortfall index indicates that the food secure households exceeded the calorie requirement by 12%, while the food insecure fell short of the recommended calorie intake by 39%. Square food insecure gap or square shortfall index which indicate the severity of food insecurity among the food insecure household was 0.0056. The average calorie available (adult equivalent per day) for food secure households was 2523.5kcal, while average calorie available (AE/day) for food-insecure households was 1389.05kcal. The identified positive drivers of food security were marital status, educational level, cooperative members and annual income of the household heads. While, age of household head, household size and COVID-19 negatively influenced food security status. The study recommends, among others, putting in place immediate policy measures to reduce the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on rural household’s food security through the provision of enough palliatives which should be monitored so that it gets to the targeted population. Effective household size management and enlightenment programs on modern family planning techniques should be encouraged in rural areas. Rural households should also be educated on the nutritional implication of the various food items such as egg, milk, soybean and fish, especially for children to increase their protein intake and boost their immune system against COVID-19.
Sustainable water management has been identified as a powerful tool to combat persistent food insecurity in South Africa's poor rural communities. The irrigation revitalisation scheme was launched in the first decade of post-Apartheid South Africa and focused on smallholder farmers in the former homeland areas. However, the adoption of irrigation technology has been limited, while official data point to worsening poverty rates and food insecurity as agricultural output declines in the face of rising prices. There is thus strong policy interest to ascertain the circumstances in which irrigation adoption can be enhanced. A cross-sectional research design was utilised to collect data from 200 farmers (adopters and non-adopters) selected through a combination of purposive and stratified sampling methods. Probit regression results suggest that irrigation adoption is influenced by distance to the irrigation scheme, age of the farmer, family size, credit access, extension contact, and group membership. Water management programmes that address community access to irrigation water are likely to enhance adoption of irrigation technology, with credit access and extension provided to ensure sustainable use of the technology.
The study was carried out in four markets namely: Wanune, Asukunya, Tiortyu and Gwarche markets from which 109 women processors and marketers were sampled. Structured questionnaires were used to elicit relevant information from the women. The first objective described the socio-economic characteristics of processors and marketers of soybean in the study area; the second identified the different forms of soybean product in the study area; the third determined the level of rural women participation in the processing and marketing of soybean product in the study area; and the fourth determined the profitability of processing and marketing of soybean products. The gross margin analysis for marketing of soybean gave a positive sign (₦1,583), an indication that soybean marketing is a profitable as well as lucrative business in the study area. The role of the women can be improved upon with better education through promotion o farmers/women cooperative and government strategies involving women. This study however recommends that government should facilitate he availability o credit facilities, inputs and infrastructural facilities and also revitalize and encourage ago-based industries so as to improve the efficiency in processing and marketing of soybean.
As a developing nation and the most populous nation in Africa, Nigeria has faced challenges associated with meeting the food needs of its expanding population over the years. This is due to the nation transitioning from a net exporter of foods to being dependent on food imports, leading to many people suffering from stunting and severe malnourishment. The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded this food insufficiency within the country with its attendant global impacts. The restrictions in the movement of people and goods in the country, due to the current pandemic, have affected access to food and agricultural input, heavily affecting the financial ability of families. This mini-review highlights the impact of COVID-19 on the country's nutritional status, the rising incidence of food insecurity and proposes approaches that can be employed to mitigate these adverse effects. Approaches to improving food security and the nutritional status of the country during the pandemic and post-pandemic era will involve deliberate policies of the government which focuses on increasing funding to local food producers, lifting restrictions on the transport of food commodities, encouraging markets for the retail of locally produced foods and more importantly instituting nutritional intervention programmes for children and the vulnerable within the community.
Due to the Federal Government of Nigeria's privatization and commercialization of the downstream sector of the oil industry, the prices of kerosene and gas, which are competitors to wood charcoal, have risen astronomically in recent years. This has also continued to shift demand away from them and back to wood charcoal. Wood charcoal business is, therefore, fast becoming a lucrative business in Nigeria. However, for agro-climatic reasons, production of wood charcoal is mostly concentrated around the forest regions of the country thereby underscoring its marketing as a very important component of the business environment with potential for mass employment creation and poverty alleviation. But no systematic assessment of this potential has been carried out to date. This paper examines the marketing of wood charcoal in Abia State Nigeria, especially as it concerns the margins, structure, price causality, and price transmission. The margins were however on the average, lower than the producer's share of the consumer spending. The result of the analysis also suggests a competitive market structure for wood charcoal in the study area. Prices were determined at the producer level of the marketing chain, but producers were asymmetric in their price transmissions to the wholesale level. These observations suggest that policy intervention in the form of improving the socio-economic environment under which marketing agents operate and facilitation of market information flow (which could reduce the asymmetric behavior of producers) could improve marketing of wood charcoal in the study area, with important practical implications for poverty alleviation and food security.
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