Effects of Climate Extreme Events on Households Food Security in Taraba State, Nigeria

Climate is particularly important, as a driver of food system performance at the farm end of the food chain, affecting the quantities and types of food produced and the adequacy of production-related income. Poor households will be hardest hit by soaring food prices since they have few coping mechanisms at their disposal. For such households, occurrence of Climate change extreme events will have an immediate impact on the quantity and quality of food they consume. Hence, the study sought to determine the effects of climate extreme events on food security of households in Taraba State. Primary data on the intensity and frequency of extreme events, socioeconomic characteristics of households, food security status based on the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) was used for the study. One hundred and twenty households for the study were sampled by means of a multistage random sampling technique. Results show that the occurrence of drying up of streams and river, heat wave and harmattan duration experienced by the households positively affected the food insecurity of the household, and was significant at p ≤ 0.05, Also, the frequency of occurrence of heavy and long periods of rain also led to an increase in food insecurity and was significant at P ≤ 10%. The study also found that food insecurity increases with an increase in household size and the longer diseases and pests lasted in or around the households the more food insecure they were. The study recommends that weather forecast stations monitoring climate occurrences be established and efforts made to inform households of these occurrences, so that they can adapt accordingly.