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African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development
Rural Outreach Program
ISSN: 1684-5358 EISSN: 1684-5358
Vol. 20, No. 5, 2020, pp. 16325-16342
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Bioline Code: nd20077
Full paper language: English
Document type: Research Article
Document available free of charge
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African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, Vol. 20, No. 5, 2020, pp. 16325-16342
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FACTORS INFLUENCING FOOD CONSUMPTION DIVERSITY AMONG FARMING HOUSEHOLDS IN SELECTED STATES IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA
Egbetokun, OA & Fraser, GCG
Abstract
The dietary practices of households have significant repercussions on the quality of life
of its members. Dietary practice generally shows the types and variety of food intake and
is extremely reliant on the socio-demographic characteristics. Dietary diversity has been
positively associated with the four pillars of food security and all dietary guidelines
propose consuming a large variety of foods, across and within major food groups. This
paper focuses on the influence of socioeconomic factors on household-level food
consumption diversity (FCD) in Nigeria. Since the majority of Nigerians (70 per cent)
live in rural areas, an analysis of the food and nutrition security status of rural dwellers
will provide a clear picture of what needs to be done to assure food security. A multistage
sampling technique was employed for the selection of respondents from a random
sample of households proportionate to the size of three states in the south-western
agricultural zone of Nigeria, and primary data were collected using an interview guide.
The analytical tools used were descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, mean food
consumption diversity index and multinomial logit regression model. The results showed
that there were significant differences in the socio-economic attributes of farming
households in the area of study. Also, farming households (78.9%) in the south-west had
a moderate level of FCD; only 8.2% of the farming households had high FCD level and
the balance only having a poor FCD. Distance to market, access to information on price,
household size, income and farm size were positively and significantly influencing FCD
in the study area. However, expenditure on legumes decreases the ability of households
to attain higher food consumption diversity in the study area. It is recommended that
government should make food markets more accessible to farmers, disseminating
information on prices of food through modern systems and educate farmers on
productivity through extension services in order to generate more income to achieve high
FCD.
Keywords
Food Groups; Consumption Diversity; Farming Household; Diversity Index; Nigeria
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