Measuring food security status among households in Osun State, Nigeria

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the food security status of 150 households in Osun state of Nigeria. The study area was chosen because relatively little energy consumption data are available concerning this geographical location.

The study used both primary and secondary data. The suitable households sample was chosen by multi-stage random sampling technique. The methodology employed to group the households into either food secure or food insecure is by comparing daily per capita calorie consumption by each household with the threshold daily per capita calorie requirement of 2,710 kcal/day/adult equivalent. This method has proven to be efficient in measuring food security at household level.

The results of the study reveal that majority of the households surveyed are food insecure that is their daily per capita calorie intake falls below the recommended daily per capita calorie requirement. The food insecure households constitute 54 per cent, surplus index of 0.36 per cent and food insecurity gap of 0.0038.

The greatest limitation to this study is the inability to collect data on the distribution of income, budget share on foods and socio-economic characteristics of the households to determine how their food security status is influenced due to impediments such as time, limited resources to collect a complete dataset used for the study. Also, recalling accurately the foods eaten in the last 24-hour was difficult for some of the household heads especially the aged ones and precise measurement of foods portion were also not accurate in some cases.

The findings of the study will help the stakeholders in food sector in policy formulations and also serve as reference for other researchers who will work on similar topic.

The revelation that majority of the households are lacking in calorie intake will provide guidance for stakeholders in food sector to put in place efforts that will improve balance between food production and accessibility.

The study used original data collected directly from the households for the study using structured questionnaires and the reference materials from secondary sources are appropriately cited. Also, it is worthy to note that not many studies have been carried out in the study area on food security especially in the rural areas.