COVID-19, food insecurity and dietary diversity of households: Survey evidence from Nigeria

Abstract

The policy measures of the government of Nigeria to restrain the spread of COVID-19, particularly in the initial three months (April – June 2020) led to significant disruptions to household livelihoods and food security. We investigate the effects of COVID-19 on food security and dietary diversity of households; focusing on the pathways through which income loss, endowments of wealth, social capital, and safety net programs moderate the severity of households’ food security and dietary diversity. Primary data obtained from a telephone survey of 1,031 Nigerian households were analyzed using ordered logit and negative binomial models. Our results show that income losses due to the COVID-19 restrictive measures had pushed households into a more severe food insecurity and less diverse nutritional outcomes. Regarding wealth effects, livestock ownership significantly cushioned households from falling into a more severe food insecurity amid the pandemic. We found that because of the pandemic’s indiscriminate effect across communities, the potential of social capital as an informal support mechanism might have been eroded to enable households to cope with shocks. Furthermore, safety net programs by the government and NGOs did not provide significant protection to households from falling into severe food insecurity and malnutrition amid the pandemic. We suggest three policy propositions – prioritize investment in local job creation to curb income loss; build the wealth base of households (e.g., land tenure security or livestock) to enhance resilience to shocks; and target safety nets and other social support programs spatially, temporally, and across social groups to enhance the effectiveness of such programs amid shocks.

COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts Food Security and Causes Psychosocial Stress in Nigeria

“…In addition, the FIES (Figure 1) showed that low income households are the most affected income category in terms of food insecurity experiences amid COVID-19 in the study areas in Nigeria. This result was corroborated by Balana et al, [18] who found that income losses further pushed Nigerian households into a more severe food insecurity level which is indicative of the challenges of achieving zero hunger (SDG 2) in Nigeria by 2030 [40,41]. It is recommended that the governments, particularly in the low-and lower-middle-income countries, should consider robust food supports and palliatives targeted at the poor and low-income earners, since these categories of individuals have experienced significantly reduced and compromised food quantity and quality [42][43][44].…”

“…Consequently, households experienced less food consumption and reduced quality. In addition, Balana et al [18] found out that income losses due to the devastating effect of COVID-19 have pushed more households in Nigeria into a more severe food insecurity status. In addition, the FIES (Figure 1) showed that low income households are the most affected income category in terms of food insecurity experiences amid COVID-19 in the study areas in Nigeria.…”

“…We designed a three-section questionnaire including the following: Section A (questions aimed at collecting the general information and the households' socio-economic and socio-demographic variables as well as previous histories of illnesses and issues that may bias the outcomes); Section B, which focused on the food security and hunger indices; while Section C consist of questions on psychosocial and stressor information, including the self-perceived quality of life indicators (Appendix 1). The questionnaire was designed based on the adapted FAO's Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) and other validated works [18,[20][21][22][23]. The developed questionnaire was pretested among five individuals to test for clarity, ease of application without much assistance; and based on the feedbacks obtained; the questionnaire was adjusted and rolled out among the target population.…”

“…In Nigeria, the recent food insecurity situation calls for immediate humanitarian intervention with rising number of undernourished people coupled with an estimated 41 percent of the population living in extreme poverty [11,12]. Some empirical studies have reported the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on food security and other socioeconomic indicators in Nigeria in recent time [13][14][15][16][17][18]. However, studies on food security and psychosocial impacts of COVID-19 in Nigeria are scarce.…”

Exploring the Factors that affect Household Higher Food Intake Cost and Economic Instability in Pakistan

“…So, the daily base calorie intake level reduces which does not fulfill the desire for good food. As a result, many families are suffering from severe health problems (Balana et al, 2022;Hoteit et al, 2022;Kundu et al, 2022: Ali, H., & Yasmin, Y. 2019.…”