FOOD SECURITY STATUS OF RURAL FARMING HOUSEHOLDS IN IWO, AYEDIRE AND AYEDAADE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS OF OSUN STATE, SOUTH-WESTERN NIGERIA

This research work reports on the food security status of rural farming households in selected Local Government Areas (LGA’s) of Osun State in the South-west Geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The objectives were to estimate extent and magnitude of food insecurity in the study area and determine factors that affect household food security. Three of the thirty LGA’s were selected using stratified random sampling method, based on the geographical location, extent and number of rural population and variations in the socio-economic characteristics of households. The LGA’s were Iwo, Ayedaade and Ayedire. Fifty rural households were then selected from each of the local governments using the random sampling method. One hundred and fifty copies of the questionnaire were administered out of which 103 fully completed and certified responses were used as representative samples for the study area. Food security status of the households was analyzed based on the calorie requirement for all household members. The food security measures applied in this research were Head Count Method, Food Insecurity Gap and Squared Food Insecurity Gap to capture successively more detailed aspects of the food insecurity status of the households. It was found that majority of the rural farming households in the area were food insecure as most of them subsist below the food security line which is 2,280 Kcal in this study. Using the recommended calorie approach, it was discovered that 69.9% of the population were food insecure. In comparison to food insecure households, food secure households have a small family size, earn a high monthly income and make use of modern farm inputs. It is, therefore, advised that food security policy strategies to be put in place by the government should consider the socio-economic characteristics of households in order to achieve more than a marginal reduction in the number of food insecure households.