Authors : S.B. Fakayode , M.A.Y. Rahji , O.A. Oni and M.O. Adeyemi
Abstract: This study examined the food security situations of the Nigerian’s major farm households using Ekiti State, Nigeria as a case study. The study comprised a random sample of 160 farm households selected across 16 villages in the 2 Agricultural Development Project (ADP) zones of Ekiti State. The USDA approach for the analysis of farm household food security was used to measure the intensity of food severity among the farm households. Results showed that only 12.2% of the farm households were food secure, 43.6% were food insecure without Hunger, 35.9% were food insecure with Hunger (moderate) and 8.3% were food insecure with Hunger (severe). Cassava, yam and their products were shown to contribute immensely to the food security status of the farm households. Constraints faced by farm households in the production of major staple crops were mainly those of high cost of transportation, poor receipts from farm output sales, inadequate storage facilities for yam and inadequate processing facilities for cassava. The study therefore recommends among other things that credit and or subsidy should be made available to farmers.
S.B. Fakayode , M.A.Y. Rahji , O.A. Oni and M.O. Adeyemi , 2009. An Assessment of Food Security Situations of Farm Households in Nigeria: A USDA Approach. The Social Sciences, 4: 24-29.