Food Security in Rural Farming Households of Kogi State, Nigeria

The study assessed the determinants of food security among rural farming households in the Kogi State of Nigeria. This study was conducted in Kogi state which is located in central Nigeria. The principal analytical strategy adopted for this study involves the construction of a Food Security Index to ascertain the food security status of the respondents. The study found that a number of variables including membership of co-operative societies, access to extension agent, and access to credit and farm size had positive and significant effects on food security in the study area. The fact that a lower proportion of respondents belonged to cooperatives or had access to extension agents despite both having positive reinforcing effects on food security, calls for the intensification of extension activities in the area as well as the sensitisation of the farmers to the benefits of membership of cooperative societies. The positive effects of education also task the authorities to invest in formal and informal education for farmers through regular school attendance by younger farmers or through evening classes, adult literacy and distance learning programmes for older farmers. Similarly, access to credit through formal financial institutions should be further liberalized and constraints associated with collateral requirements should be alleviated for smallholder farmers, while the various credit intervention schemes of Nigeria's financial regulator should be expanded to benefit more farmers.