ABSTRACT
The
study identified strategies for ensuring food security in Taraba State.
Specifically, the study was designed to identify the determinants of food
security; examine the production patterns of food by farmers, identify the
factors responsible for food insecurity: and determine the strategies of
ensuring food security. The study was carried out in Taraba State of Nigeria in
the year 2011. The population of the study comprises all heads of households in
Taraba State. A multi stage sampling technique was used in the selection of
respondents. Two agricultural zones were selected using a simple random
technique. These were Zing and Bali zones and they were selected using simple
random sampling techniques and the process gave rise to the selection of four
communities/cells per zone bringing the total number of communities/cells
sampled to eight (8). From each sampled cell, a list of farmers was obtained
from the farmers’ association and from the list of farmers’ households. Fifteen
(15) heads of households were sampled using simple random selection techniques.
The total number of respondents for the study summed up to one hundred and twenty
(120). A set of interview schedule and questionnaire were used for data
collection out of which 117 were found analysable. Frequency, percentage
scores, mean scores, and standard deviations were used to analysed the data
collected. Results from the study showed that majority (79.5%) of the
respondents were males. The age limit of respondents shows that 56% were
between the range of 20-29 years and the mean age was 32 years. The educational
level of the respondents reveals that the farmers have enjoyed one form of
education or the other with about 53.0% having OND/NCE as their highest
educational qualification. Further results show that 65.8% of the respondents
were single while 31.6% were married. The mean household size of farmers was 7
persons. The mean years of farming experience of the farmers was 8.4 years. The
majority (59.0%) of the farmers had 1-5 years of farming experience. Majority
(62.4%) of the farmers engage in trading and their main source of information
was through extension agents with 47.9%. Majority (84.6%) of the farmers grew
maize grains and some crops like rice, yam, guinea corn, and cassava. The
monthly income of the respondents revealed that majority (58.8%) have an
estimated monthly income of below N20,000. The food security analysis of the
farmers revealed that the availability of food items for the respondents were
as follows: maize (X = 3.09) cassava flour (X = 3.09), and rice (X = 2.90)
depicting availability of the respondents to a large extent while food items
from proteins were perceived to be available to a great extent. The means
scores show that most of these food items are available Taraba State. On the
accessibility of food in Taraba State, majority (76.9%) of the respondents
accessed their food items from both farm and market while 18% of the
respondents got their food items from farms only. Most (57.3%) of the
respondents purchased their food items with money. The prices of the items were
moderate (63.2%). The access to food by the respondents as a determinant of
food security is not a problem in the entire State. The study also identified
some barriers to food access in the state. It revealed that religion (59.8%),
culture (64.1%), poor government policies (64.1%), geographical location
(60.1%), inadequate market information (61.7%), all have more than half of the
respondents agreeing to them as various barriers to their food access. In the
utilization of food, carbohydrate food items were not eaten in a higher
proportion during the last one day of the interview, while in the case of
proteins such as beans, fish, eggs, and milk, they were eaten by the
respondents on a 12 – 24 hours basis. The study also showed that the farming
pattern which is mostly being practiced among respondents is mixed farming
(93.2%) and mixed cropping (82.0%). This could be one of the reasons for high
availability of many food items across the various respondents in the state. It
is therefore recommended that subsidies should be provided on agricultural
inputs by the state government, local government, and other private
organizations. Also, opportunities should be provided for farmers to
participate in planning and decision making in agricultural programmes and
policies in the state.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Nigeria has suffered from food insecurity and poverty as indicated in a
recent estimate that put the number of hungry people in Nigeria at over 53
million, which is about 30 percent of the country’s total population of roughly
150 million; and 52 percent live under the poverty line (Ajayeoba, 2010). These
are matters of serious concern largely because Nigeria was self sufficient in
food production and was indeed a net exporter of food to other regions of the
continent in the 1950s and 1960s (Ajayeoba, 2010). He stated that things
changed dramatically for the worse following the global economic crisis that
hit developing countries beginning from the late 1970’s onward. The discovery
of crude oil and rising revenue from the country’s petroleum sector encouraged
official neglect of the agricultural sector and turned Nigeria into a net
importer of food. By 2009 for example the Federal Ministry of Agriculture
estimated that Nigeria was spending over $3billion annually on food imports.
Although agriculture contributes 42 percent of the GDP, provides
employment and a means of livelihood for more than 60 percent of the
productively engaged population, it receives less than 10 percent of the annual
budgetary allocations. Underfunding in this regard is central to the crisis of
food production, and food security in Nigeria (Ajayeoba, 2010). This explains
the persistence of poverty. According to the author, the loss of food
sovereignty and the dependence on food importation is also making the country
quite susceptible to fluctuations in global food crisis. This is why Nigeria
was also strongly affected by the global food crisis in 2007/2008 leading to
food insecurity, thus a need for food security.
Food security happens when all people at all times have access to enough
food that is affordable, safe and healthy and is culturally acceptable, meets
specific dietary needs, obtained in a dignified manner and produced in ways
that are environmentally sound and
A nation is food secured when food is available and accessible in sufficient
quantity and quality for a productive livelihood for every individual. The
increasing issue of food insecurity, particularly in Africa has been greatly
attributed to wars, conflicts, natural disasters and bad governance.
Globally, there is enough food for all, but more than 780 million people
are chronically undernourished (FAO, 2001). Millions of people in developing
world simply cannot obtain the food they need for a healthy and productive
life. Much of the scholarly debate on agricultural growth and poverty in
Nigeria have followed the general trend of regressing measures of poverty
against agricultural output per head and a time trend (World Bank, 2009). This
is based on the knowledge of agricultural production landscape in Nigeria.
These resource poor farmers are also characterized by a strong dependence on
agricultural labour market, little or no forms of savings or storage facilities
and cultural practices adopted are highly labour intensive (Okuneye, 2002).
The socio-economic and production characteristics of the farmers,
inconsistent and unfocussed government policies, the poor infrastructural base,
all interact in a synergism to asphyxiate the sector, resulting in low
production, high prices of food items, inflation, underdevelopment and concomitant
poverty. The place of agriculture in an agrarian society....
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