International Journal of Innovative Agriculture & Biology Research 1 (2):20-30 , 2013

SEAHI PUBLICATIONS, 2013 www.seahipaj.org ISSN:2354-2934

FOOD INSECURITY AND ITS DETERMINANT IN RURAL HOUSEHOLDS IN

UGHELLI NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF DELTA STATE, NIGERIA
1
AKARUE .O. Blessing & 2 BAKPORHE Ojiyovwi Theresa
1
Department of Agricultural Science Education,
College of Education, Warri, Nigeria
E-mails of corresponding author: akarueb4edu@ yahoo.com; blessingakarue4edu@gmail.com
Mobile: 08036690792, 08058001219
2
Graduate student Department of Agricultural Science Education
Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria
Mobile: 08127446013

ABSTRACT
The study investigated attempts to estimate the food security status and identify the determinants
of food security among households in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State,
Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 80 households while a pre-tested
well structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Analysis of results indicates that
majority of respondents are between the ages of 49-45 years with average household size of 1 -4
persons. Respondents distribution by gender reveals that there are more male-headed households
than female-headed households with about 88.80 percent and 11.10 percent of the former and the
latter. However, respondents distribution by food security status showed more food-insecure
male-headed households than female-headed households. It was also found that about 70 per cent
of the households are food insecure; using expenditure method of estimating food security status.
Further analysis using the binary logistic regression method identified only income of household
head as important determinant of food security. Income of household head impact positively on
food security, implying that gainfully employed household heads tend to be food secure. The
study recommends improved policies that can create good business environment for the study
area, among others.
Keywords: Determinant, Food insecurity, Binary logistic regression, Delta state

INTRODUCTION
Food security ranks the top most among development problems facing Nigeria. The level of food
insecurity has continued to rise steadily since the 1986 to about 41% in 2004 (Sanusi, et al
2006).According to Barrett (2002), the Lack of food excludes people to practice what other
people are doing every time. However, large amount of food production in the world does not
ensure any countrys food security. Moreover, huge production of food at national level does not
guarantee for the household food security. This may be due to unfair distribution of resources,
variation in production functions, and motives for productivity. That is why even if the
production increases through time; food insecurity, malnutrition and hunger remain the main
agenda and much more serious problems in the world today.
During the World Food Summit held in 1996, the world leaders met in Rome and made a
commitment to decrease the number of food insecure people by half not more than the year 2015.
After some years, the world food summit tried to evaluate its activities in food security programs
but the trend showed that it is unlikely to meet their target by 2015 (FAO, 2003;Madley, 2000).
This means that the problem of food insecurity may go beyond the determined period and will
continue further.

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Malnutrition continues to be a problem of public health importance despite the various

interventions in the past two decades. High morbidity and mortality in children has been largely
attributed to high prevalence of protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) and micronutrient deficiencies
(Agary and Gillepie, 1993; Federal Government of Nigeria and UNICEF, 1994;Maziya Dixon
et al, 2003;NPC and ORC maCRO, 2004). This phenomenon cuts across all age, groups and
categories of individuals in Nigeria.
Recent estimates put the number of hunger people in Nigeria at over 53 million, which is about
30% of the countrys total population of roughly 150 million, and 52% live under the poverty
line. These are matters of grave concern largely because Nigeria was self sufficient in food
production and was indeed a net exporter of food to other regions of the continent in the 1950s
and 1960s. This changed dramatically for the worse following the global economic crises that hit
developing countries beginning from the late 1970s onward. The discovery of crude oil and rising
revenue from countrys petroleum sector encouraged official neglect of the agricultural sector and
turned Nigeria into a net importer of food. By 2009 for example the Federal Ministry of
Agriculture estimated that Nigeria was spending over 3 billion annually on food imports.
In spite of the fact that Nigeria has abundant natural resources, most of its socioeconomic
indicators are extremely low and discouraging. In Nigeria mostly the poor have been affected by
food shortage problems. That is they are living below the poverty line. The gap between the
demand and supply of food to the average Nigerian has led to various studies to investigate if
there is a problem of food insecurity in the country, the wide range of area to be covered and the
large number of people to be attended to for different identified causes of food insecurity
problem. Among the causal factors, per capita land holding with increasing population growth,
livestock availability, education, per capita income of the household from agricultural and non
agriculture activities, soil fertility, conflict, under-funded agriculture are the major and commonly
mentioned factors.
Despite much effort by the government of Nigeria to boost food production, food insecurity
remains the main problem in our country and the need for food importation become increasing.
The government needs to look for a way to reduce this situation. This is because Nigeria is still
characterized by high reliance on food imports. Malnutrition is widespread in the entire country
and rural areas are especially vulnerable to chronic food shortages, malnutrition, unbalanced
nutrition, erratic food supply, poor quality foods, high food costs and even total lack of food. This
phenomenon cuts across all age groups and categories of individuals in the rural areas
(Abdullateef and Ijaiya, 2010). There is a high level of malnutrition among children in rural
Nigeria; the figures differ with geopolitical zones, with 56 percent reported in a rural area of
South West and 84.3 percent in three rural communities in the northern part of Nigeria (Okwuet
al., 2008; Oluwatayo, 2008). This study therefore examined the determinants of food insecurity in
Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Concept of Food Security and Food Insecurity

Concept of Food Security
The concepts and definitions of food security and insecurity have been discussed for a long
period of time. There is much literature on the concepts and definitions of food security. Since its
inception it is defined in different ways by international organizations and researchers. Hoddinot
cited in Seid (2007) noted that there are close to 200 definitions and 450 indicators of food
security.

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According to the World Food Conference of 1974 food security was defined as: availability at
all times of adequate world food supplies of basic foodstuffsto sustain a steady expansion of
food consumptionand to offset fluctuations in production and prices (United Nations 1974).
However it was not long before it was realized that this definition gave a very limited view of the
food security problem. It is so because a large number of a population could be living in hunger
even if the country had sufficient food in the aggregate during normal times. It is also a paradox
that global food security exists alongside individual food insecurity. It is known that the world
produces enough food to feed every one. However, there are countries in the world, regions
within countries, villages within regions, households within villages and individuals within
household that are not able to meet their food needs.(Seid, 2007)
The implication is that adequacy at the national level does not necessarily ensure adequacy at the
household or individual level. As a result food security had advanced from emphasizing the
supply side through the individual and household level (demand side) for improved access to food
in the 1980s (FAO, 1983). In the 1990s, improved access was redefined by taking into account
livelihood and subjective considerations. It emphasizes a broader framework of individual
behavior in the face of uncertainty, irreversibility, and binding constraints on choice (Osmanis
2001; Maxwell, 1996).
According to FAO (1996), the most widely used definition of food security is the one forwarded
by World Food Summit in 1996 and broadly set as Food security exists when all people at all
times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their
dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Based on this definition it can+
be seen that it integrates stability, access to food, availability of nutritionally adequate food and
the biological utilization of food.
To sum up, it is known that food security concepts and definitions have developed over the past
thirty years. Hence, the current concept emphasizes the role of multiple factors that affect the
households or individuals ability to acquire enough food all the times (Maxwell 1996).
Consistence with these definitions, food security can be defined with the main emphasis on food
availability, access, and utilization.

Concept of Food Insecurity

There is other concept of food security that is worth mentioning here; that is the issue of food
insecurity. It is believed that people who frequently do not have enough to eat according to
accepted cultural norms created a crisis. For this reason, the phrase Food Insecurity was used to
describe the instability of national or regional food supplies over time. It was then expanded to
include lack of secure provisions at the household and individual level. Food insecurity concern
may be due to either inadequate physical availability of food supplies, poor access among the
population, or inadequate utilization of food (Habicht et. al. 2004)
According to Maxwell and Smith (1996), the concept of food insecurity has evolved, developed,
multiplied and diversified since the world food conference of 1974. The main focus has shifted
from global and national to household and individual food insecurity and from food availability to
food accessibility and the security of access. Food security is defined as access by all people, at
all times to sufficient food for an active and healthy life and includes at a minimum the ready
availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, and an assured ability to acquire acceptable
foods in socially acceptable ways (FAO, 1997; Sarah, 2003). Access to adequate food is a
necessary but not a sufficient condition for a healthy life. A number of other factors, such as the
health and sanitation environment and household or public capacity to care for vulnerable
members of the society, also come into play (von Braun et al, 1992).

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According to FAO (2002) Food insecurity classified as chronic or transitory. Some other
literature also include a third kind of food insecurity; i.e., cyclical type of food insecurity.
Chronic food insecurity; this occurs when a household is persistently unable to meet the food
requirements of its members over a long period of time. It, therefore, afflicts households that
persistently lack the ability to either buy food or produce their own.
Transitory food insecurity; refers to a temporary decline in a household's access to enough
food. It results from a temporary decline in household access to food due to crop failure, seasonal
scarcities, temporary illness or unemployment, instability in food prices, production, household
income or combination of these factors.
Cyclical food insecurity; is caused by seasonality (Osmanis, 2001; FAO, 2006).
As the occurrence of hunger, famine, and malnutrition are increased from time to time in
developing countries, the conceptual framework of food security has also progressively
developed and expanded. The idea of food security attained wider attention since the 1980s after
the debate on access to food and the focus of the unit shifted from global and national levels to
household and individual levels.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Study Area
This study carried out in Ughelli North local government area of Delta State. Ughelli North is a
Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria with headquarters in the city of Ughelli. It has an
area of 818 km2 and a population of 321,028 at the 2006 census. Its geographical coordinates are
5 30' 0" North, 5 59' 0" East and its original name (with diacritics) is Ughelli. The area falls
within the rainforest zone and the vegetation consists of luxuriant deciduous and evergreen forest.
It is also a commercial centre in Delta state.
Sampling Technique:
A two stage sampling technique was adopted in selecting the respondents. In the first stage, five
major towns (Agbarho, Uwheru, Ughelli, Orogun and Agbarha) were selected from the local
government area. The second stage was the selection of one hundred rural households, out of
which only eighty (80) were found useful. Structured questionnaires were administered on them.
Analytical Techniques:
Descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution and percentages were used to analyse some
socio-economic characteristics of the respondents in the study area. Other tool of analysis that
was employed in this study was the logistic regression analysis. There is no single and one best
food insecurity measure that is universally accepted. So, it is up to the researcher to select an
indicator or a combination of indicators that suits the objective of the study. For this study the
food security index estimation, using expenditure method of Omonona, et al.(2007) and Arene and
Anyaeji (2010) was employed to classify the respondents into food secure and food insecure
households in a bid to establishing the food security status of the individual households.
Below is the expression:
Fi = Per capita monthly food expenditure for the ith household
2/3 means per capita monthly food expenditure of all households
Where Fi = Food security index. , When Fi 1 it implies that the ith household is food secure, but
when Fi < 1, it implies that the ith household is food insecure.
A food secure household is, therefore, that whose per capita monthly food expenditure is at least
two-third of the mean per capita monthly food expenditure. On the other hand, a food insecure
household is that whose per capita monthly food expenditure is less than two-third of the mean
monthly per capita food expenditure.

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The binary logistic regression was used to determine the effects of some socioeconomic
characteristics of the households on their food security status. The parameter of the logistic
regression model was estimated with the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) technique. A
binary response function (food secure and food insecure) was specified and estimated by the
logistic procedure. The binary logistic specification is suited to models where the endogenous
variable is dichotomous, which in this case are the households who are food secure and those who
are food insecure.
Food security status was measured using a bid value of one or zero, where one represents food
secure and zero represents food insecure. The logistic regression then provides a model of
observing the probability of a household becoming food secure or food insecure. The logistic
model is specified explicitly as: Food security index estimation, using expenditure method of
Omonona, et al.(2007), Arene and Anyaeyi.,(2010) was employed to classify the respondents into
food secure and food insecure households in a bid to establishing the food security status of the
individual households.
The logistic regression then provides a model of observing the probability of a household
becoming food secure or food insecure. The logistic model is specified explicitly as:

Y = b0 + b1 X1 + b2 X2 + b3 X3 + b4 X4 + b5 X5 + b6 X6 .
Where Y= Food security status (1, if household is food secure; 0, if household is food insecure)
X1 = Sex of household head (Male = 1; Female = 0)
X2 = Age of household head (Years)
X3 = Level of education of household head (Years)
X4 = Marital status (Single = 1; Married = 0)
X5 = Household size (Number of dependents)
X6 = Income of household head (Naira)

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Socio-economic Characteristics of rural household

Table 1 reveals that in respect to age distribution, majority (78.20%) of the respondents are in
their youthful age within the age range of 22 45 years. This indicate that the respondents are in
their active work life and can struggle to get food .The result also shows that most (88.80%) of
the respondents were male, while female represent 11.30%. Regarding marital status, greater
proportion of the respondents is married (57.5 percent). The level of education of the respondents
revealed that 95percent can read, write and have attended both primary and secondary school.
Household size of majority of the respondents was between 1-4persons representing 65 percent.

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Table 1.Socio-economic Characteristics of rural household

. Variable Frequency Percentage
Age Category
22 - 33years 25 31.40
34 45years 37 47.80
>46 years 16 20.40
Total 80 100
Gender
Male 71 88.80
Female 09 11.30
Total 80 100.00
Marital Status
Married 46 57.5
Single 28 35.0
Divorced 02 2.5
Widow 04 5.0
Total 80 10.0
Education
Can Read 15 18.80
Cannot Read and Write 05 6.30
Cannot Read 02 2.50
Cannot write 02 2.50
Primary 11 13.80
Junior Secondary 23 28.80
Senior Secondary 22 27.50
Total 80 10.0
Household size
1 - 4 persons 50 65.00
5 8 persons 22 29.60
9 - 12 persons 02 02.50
Above 12 persons 03 03.75
N/A 03 03.75
Total 80 100

Food Security Status among Rural Households

FANTA (2003) noted that the issue of food security has been understood by many development
workers as the availability of food in the world marketplace and on the food production systems
of developing countries. However, global food availability does not ensure food security in any
particular country because what is available in the world market may not necessarily be
accessible by famine affected people in African countries, as the economies of these countries, in
general, cannot generate the foreign currency needed to purchase food from the world market.

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Table 2. Distribution of Respondent by Food security Status

Food security Status No of Respondents % Distribution
Food insecure 55 68.80
Food secure 25 31.25
Total 80 100.00

One of the most influential definitions of food security is that of the World Bank in 1986.
According to the Bank food security is defined as the "access by all people at all times to enough
food for an active and healthy life." This definition encompasses many issues. It deals with
production in relation to food availability; it addresses distribution in that the produce should be
accessed by all; it covers consumption in the sense that individual food needs are met in order for
that individual to be active and healthy.
According to Bilinsky and Swindale, (2007) months of inadequate household food provisioning
has been defined as the time between stock depletion and the next harvest. It is usually used as a
measure of food insecurity in a highly subsistence-oriented area where production is primarily for
home consumption and households do not make significant sales or purchases in the market. The
food insecurity analysis (Table 2) in this study indicates that majority of households (68.8%) are
food insecure and are not capable to manage food demand even with the combination of different
coping strategies. The results from the study also showed that 31.2% households are food secure.
This is in agreement with the work of Arun and Keshav (2006) who reported in their work in
Nepal that 22.7% of households were chronic food insecure, 51.5% households were potentially
food insecure and 25.8% households were food secure.

Logistic Regression Analysis Result

This analysis identified the factors affecting the ability of the households to secure available food
supplies. The result of the analysis is shown in Table 3.
Only one variable was important in explaining the food security status of the household, and that
is the income of household head. This is at variance with Arene and Anyaeji (2010) where
income and age of household were shown to be important. The other variables appear not to be
important. Income of households has positive effect on food security status implying that the
more gainfully employed a household head is, the greater his or her chances of being food secure.
This calls for profitable and sustainable occupation among the rural households.
This is expected because incomes of these households are likely to be higher as a result of longer
stay on their public or private endeavors, following the assumptions of lifecycle hypothesis
(Arene, 2008). According to this hypothesis, current consumption spending is primarily a matter
of expected income, and this expected income, is, in principle, very similar to a higher expected
income implying a higher level of current consumption and lower level of current savings, a
lower level of current consumption. Income stream is one that rises in the early working years,
reaches a plateau in middle years and followed by a sudden decline upon retirement. The
coefficient of determination, R2 , was found to be 13.66 per cent implying that the variation in
food security status is due to the stated socio-economic characteristics of the rural households.

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Table 3. Logistic Regression Analysis of identified factors affecting the ability

of the households to secure available food supplies
Dependent Variable: FOODSECURITY
Method: ML - Binary Logit (Quadratic hill climbing)
Date: 10/18/12 Time: 09:48
Sample: 1 80
Included observations: 80
Convergence achieved after 10 iterations
Covariance matrix computed using second derivatives

Variable Coefficient Std. Error z-Statistic Prob.

C -3.496950 1.888184 -1.852017 0.0640

SEX 0.392732 0.922108 0.425907 0.6702
AGE 0.040140 0.037500 1.070383 0.2844
MSTATUS -0.944265 0.861620 -1.095918 0.2731
HSIZE 0.047677 0.095751 0.497925 0.6185
INCOME 1.06E-06 6.00E-07 1.762009 0.0781
EDUCYEARS 0.037229 0.059624 0.624392 0.5324

Mean dependent var 0.312500 S.D. dependent var 0.466437

S.E. of regression 0.442094 Akaike info criterion 1.247480
Sum squared resid 14.26764 Schwarz criterion 1.455907
Log likelihood -42.89919 Hannan-Quinn criter. 1.331044
Restr. log likelihood -49.68691 Avg. log likelihood -0.536240
LR statistic (6 df) 13.57543 McFadden R-squared 0.136610
Probability(LR stat) 0.034756

Obs with Dep=0 55 Total obs 80

Obs with Dep=1 25

CONCLUSIONS
The major objective of this study was to identify the determinants of food security among the
rural households of Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria. The result of
the study indicated that household food security in the study region was determined by only one
factor. However, the author believes that this is not a complete study to come up with solid
solution to address the food security situation in the study area. This is because the range of
factors and elements that affect food security are complex and multifaceted in nature and not easy
to comprehend. Our conclusion is that households with greater household size are more likely to
be food insecure as compared with households with smaller household size. Other principal
determinants of household food security in the study region are the income of the household head,
the household not employing new technologies such as fertilizers, improved seeds, pesticides, and
so on. In general, with reference to a base group of food insecure households we conclude that

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with an increase in income, there is the likelihood of a household being classified into the group
of food secure households in the study area.

RECOMMENDATIONS
As rural part of Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State is constantly facing food
insecurity, there is a need for integrating relief and prevention strategies at the local government
and state level within the overall development strategy. The strategy should aim at self-
sufficiency at the local level and food security at the household level by incorporating the
following recommendations.
1. It should be noted that household size is known to be one of the leading causes of food
insecurity in the study area. This implies that policy measures directed towards the provision of
better family planning to reduce household size should be given adequate attention and priority
by the federal, state and local governments.
2. We recommend for further studies to be conducted on the area of food security by considering
detail and accurate information on various variables including political, climatic and weather
(rainfall and temperature), topography, natural disasters, ecological conditions and other factors
that affect food security. It is also recommended to conduct a study that compares status of food
security in rural households with urban households.
Generally, food insecurity is a multifaceted concept, which cannot be treated in isolation from
other causes of poverty. Therefore efforts geared towards achieving food security should be
addressed in the areas of human and infrastructure development.

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