No abstract

No abstract

Attaining food security is one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals. Despite the various efforts made by governments, food insecurity continues to be a major developmental problem across the globe. Research shows that food production in Nigeria is increasing at a rate of less than 2.0% while the population growth rate is estimated to be increasing at 2.5% per annum. Therefore, this study was carried out to assess rural households’ food insecurity in Ekiti state, Nigeria. Descriptive statistics, Per-capita Food Consumption Expenditure, Probit Regression Analysis, Likert Rating Scale, and Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) were used to achieve the objectives. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 240 respondents used for the study. Results show that the respondents were in their active working age with an average age of about 46 years and marital status, educational qualification, primary occupation, access to credit, and age were significant drivers of food insecurity in the study area. Also, 68.33% of the respondents were food insecure while only 31.67% of the respondents were food secure. Seven out of ten generated perception statements developed were rated ‘agreed’ while the remaining three statements were rated disagreed. The results of HFIAS show that 31.7% of the respondents were least food insecure and 48.2% were moderately food insecure while the remaining 20.1% were most food insecure. Recommendations were made based on the findings of the research work that governmental and non-governmental organizations should make credit facilities available to the people in the study area in other to augment income inconsistency and policy measures that will enhance increase scale of production should be encouraged.

The study examined the resource use efficiency of yam production in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling techniques were used to select 120 respondents and were interviewed using a well structured questionnaire. The study described the socioeconomic characteristics of the farmers; indentify the system of land ownership and the constraints that yam farmers faced; and analyze the technical efficiency of the farmers. Descriptive statistics such as; frequency counts, mean and percentage was used while the inferential statistics used to estimate technical efficiency was stochastic frontier function. The findings revealed that the study area is dominated by male, married, experienced and small holder farmers with almost secondary school level of education. The mean and maximum technical efficiency was 0.87 and 0.99 respectively thus showing a high level of how yam farmers are technically efficient in the study area. The study recommended that government should provide adequate extension and supportive services with a view to improving farming techniques with technological innovation and farm inputs should be made available at highly subsidized rates through adequate and efficient distribution to the farmers.

The study examined the resource use efficiency of yam production in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling techniques were used to select 120 respondents and were interviewed using a well structured questionnaire. The study described the socioeconomic characteristics of the farmers; indentify the system of land ownership and the constraints that yam farmers faced; and analyze the technical efficiency of the farmers. Descriptive statistics such as; frequency counts, mean and percentage was used while the inferential statistics used to estimate technical efficiency was stochastic frontier function. The findings revealed that the study area is dominated by male, married, experienced and small holder farmers with almost secondary school level of education. The mean and maximum technical efficiency was 0.87 and 0.99 respectively thus showing a high level of how yam farmers are technically efficient in the study area. The study recommended that government should provide adequate extension and supportive services with a view to improving farming techniques with technological innovation and farm inputs should be made available at highly subsidized rates through adequate and efficient distribution to the farmers.