Determinants of Vulnerability to Food Insecurity among Rural Households in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Assessing vulnerability to food insecurity is instrumental to addressing food security challenges in developing countries. Food production rate in Nigeria is not keeping pace with its population growth rate and this is a serious case for concern with respect to food availability to feed the teeming population. Against this backdrop, this study examined the determinants of vulnerability to food insecurity in Ekiti Sate, Nigeria by applying statistical and econometric tools. Three-stage random sampling procedure was used to elicit cross-sectional data from a total of 150 rural households across 5 local government areas (LGAs) of Ekiti State using semi-structured questionnaire. The Coping Strategy Index (CSI) was used to assess vulnerability to food insecurity status of the households and ordered logit regression was used to identify the factors affecting vulnerability. Findings revealed that 35.33% of the households were moderately vulnerable, while 33.33% and 31.33% were mildly and severely vulnerable, respectively in the study area. Borrowing food, eating seed stock, begging for food and reducing meals were the major coping strategies adopted by the households. Regression results show that out of the 10 significant variables, age of household head, number of dependents, non-food expenditure and number of coping strategies positively influenced vulnerability while being married, educational level, farm income and off-farm occupation negatively influenced vulnerability to food insecurity among the households. The study concluded that policies that address capacity building, increased rural income and its source diversification are likely to enhance resilience of rural farming households in the study area.