Exploring the Factors Behind Limited Dietary Diversity in Rural Households of Ogun State, Nigeria

Lack of dietary diversity is a challenge for rural communities in Nigeria whose diets are by default defined on starchy staples with inadequate animal products, fresh fruits and vegetables. The study therefore examined the determinants of rural household dietary diversity in Ogun State, Nigeria, using primary data collected from 320 households, with 9 questionnaires later discarded due to inconsistent responses. The data was analyzed using the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) and Multinomial Logistic Regression (MLR) model. The HDDS showed that majority of the respondents (61.5%) has low dietary diversity, 25.5% of the respondent’s household fall under medium dietary scores, while 13% the household have high dietary diversity scores. The MLR revealed that household with higher income is likely to have high diversity in their diets at 1% significant level. The MLR also indicated a positive significant relationship of 10% between sex and low dietary diversity, while education level was positively related to high dietary diversity at 5% significant level. Likewise, the result of the MLR revealed a negative significant correlation between household size and low dietary diversity at 5%. The study recommended that poor rural household should adjust their food combination towards rice, cocoyam, melon, cowpea, garri (Cassava flour), fish and palm oil which constitute the least-cost food items for the rural household.