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Food insecurity and coping strategies in South-West Nigeria

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Abstract

Food insecurity and coping strategies in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State in the south-western part of Nigeria were studied by means of a multistage sampling technique. Data were collected from 80 households, consisting of 321 members, with the aid of a well-structured questionnaire, and were analysed using a Food Insecurity Index. The overall incidence of food insecurity was 58.8 % while the depth of food insecurity, expressed as the average percent increase in calories required to meet the recommended daily requirement, was 19.5 %. Thus, the study confirmed the widespread existence of household food insecurity but with mild severity. Food insecurity indices declined with higher levels of income and educational attainment but increased with household size and number of dependants. Incidence of food insecurity was slightly higher among female headed than male headed households but the depth and severity were lower. Eating less expensive and less preferred food and reducing portion sizes were the three most common coping strategies for combating short-term food shortages. Policies that would enhance income earning capacity of household members and their access to higher education, well-focused gender specific interventions and promotion of backyard farming are advocated.

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Notes

  1. The months of data collection were in the dry-season and a period when food stocks are not at their lowest. This is not the main harvest (surplus) season (September to November) nor the hungry cum early harvest season (May to August) (FEWSNET 2012). While results may be affected by seasons, they are unlikely to differ radically as they would in the cases of extreme surplus and hungry seasons. The results may “roughly represent” an average result of the two extreme seasons.

  2. We have only defined food insecurity in terms of inadequate consumption of calories. There are other aspects of food insecurity not covered by this study.

  3. This shows how serious food insecurity is among the food insecure household groups. The severity index differs from the food insecurity depth index in that it assigns different weights to the food insecurity status of each of the households with the weight itself equalling the value (size) of the food insecurity depth; thus more weight is given to the most food insecure household. Drawing from Foster et al. (2010), the severity index provides information about the distribution of food insecurity in a population by concentrating more on the most affected (worse hit) household groups. It is measured as the average of the square of the food insecurity depth of each household. Although the severity index has an ordinal value, it has no intuitive interpretation on its own, except it is compared with the severity index of other group(s)/population(s) (Gibson and Olivia 2002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Economics and Farm Management, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria

    Dare Akerele, Siaka Momoh & Adebayo Musediku Shittu

  2. Toluwani Special Needs Centre, Abeokuta, Nigeria

    Adebayo B. Aromolaran

  3. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Food Science and Human Ecology, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria

    Clara R. B. Oguntona

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  1. Dare Akerele
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  2. Siaka Momoh
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  3. Adebayo B. Aromolaran
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  4. Clara R. B. Oguntona
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  5. Adebayo Musediku Shittu
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Correspondence to Dare Akerele.

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Akerele, D., Momoh, S., Aromolaran, A.B. et al. Food insecurity and coping strategies in South-West Nigeria. Food Sec. 5, 407–414 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-013-0264-x

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