This study was carried out to estimate the extent of food security and its determinants among rural households in Nigeria. Data for this study was obtained from 180 rural households consisting of 1260 members through the use of a structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed with a descriptive technique and a less restrictive multinomial logistic regression model. The result found most rural households to be food insecure as they measure high on the food insecurity scale. Age, gender, marital status, access to credit, dependency ratio, household size, ownership of farmland and farming experience significantly influence food security categories. The study concluded that: female-headed married households were more food secure than male-headed households; an increase in age of household heads makes it more likely to be food secure, and so does access to credit facilities; conversely, an increase in family size and in the dependency ratio makes it less likely to be food secure. The study recommends that there should be provision and proper monitoring of credit facilities to small farmers in other to increase their scale of operation and improve their food security status. Also, adequate attention should be given to policy measures that address family planning in order to reduce the household size to a level the household heads can adequately cater for.
Good health is important in the economy of any nation especially in the fight against poverty, poor health affects productivity and income of the workers and this will further deepen the incidence of poverty and ill-health. This study examined the linkage between ill-health cost and multidimensional poverty of rural households in Ogun state, Nigeria. Multistage sampling was used to select 240 households for the study. Data collected were analysed with descriptive statistics, economic cost of illness, multidimensional poverty index and logistic regression model. The result revealed that majority (95%) of the households experienced malaria infestation, time cost of illness contributed most (92.6%) to the total economic cost. Result revealed that 69% of households are multidimensionally poor. Furthermore, marital status (p<0.01), off-farm income (p<0.01), financial cost (p<0.01), days forgone production (p<0.1), time cost (p<0.01) and area cultivated (p<0.1) positively, and significantly influence multidimensional poverty status while household size (p<0.01), cooperative membership (p<0.05), public health care services (p<0.1) and health extension contact (p<0.01) have negative, and significant effect. The study concluded that increase in out of pocket expenditure as a result of illhealth cost increases poverty status, availability and access to public health facilities reduces poverty status, it was therefore recommended that public health facilities should be located nearer to the people with minimum social stratification that might discourage poor masses from its usage, essential drugs should be provided at subsidized rates as this will go a long way in reducing financial cost thereby reducing poverty status.
Agricultural products including rice, yam and cowpea play significant roles in the food consumption of urban dwellers. However, increase in crop production cost has continued to threaten urban food price in Nigeria. This study analyzed the determinants of demand for food commodities among urban households in Minna metropolis. Data were collected from 110 household heads of urban residences, which were selected through a three-stage random sampling technique. Data collected for the study were analyzed using multiple regression technique. The results showed that rice, yam and cowpea were price in-elastic. The cross-price elasticities for rice, yam and cowpea were -0.132, 0.028 and 0.005 respectively. The computed own price, cross price and income elasticity of demand for rice were –0.308, -0.132 and 0.018 respectively. For yam, the computed values were -1.262, 0.028 and 0.289 respectively. While for cowpea, these values were -0.530, 0.005 and 0.002 respectively. For the income elasticity, rice and cowpea were proven to be normal goods and yam as a luxury good. The social protection strategies in form of food aids policy should be put into action to minimize the inflationary pressure on food items in the urban areas.
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