IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i22p12417-d676091.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Counting the Cost: The Effect of COVID-19 Lockdown on Households in South East Nigeria

Author

Listed:
  • Johnny Ogunji

    (Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, 482131 Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria)

  • Stanley Iheanacho

    (Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, 482131 Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria)

  • Chinwe Victoria Ogunji

    (Department of Educational Foundations, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, 482131 Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria)

  • Michael Olaolu

    (Department of Agriculture, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, 482131 Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria)

  • Vivian Oleforuh-Okoleh

    (Department of Animal Science, Rivers State University, Nkpolu-Oroworukwo, 500101 Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria)

  • Nuria Amaechi

    (Department of Food Science and Technology, Abia State University, 441107 Uturu, Abia State, Nigeria)

  • Esther David

    (Department of Home Economics, Hospitality Management and Tourism, Ebonyi State University, 480001 Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria)

  • Onyekachi Ndukauba

    (Department of Food Science and Technology, Federal University of Technology Owerri, 460001 Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria)

  • Theophilus Maduabuchukwu Ikegwu

    (Department of Food Science and Technology, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, 420211 Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria)

  • Cresantus Biamba

    (Department of Educational Sciences, University of Gävle, SE-801 76 Gävle, Sweden)

  • Delight Chinonyerem

    (Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, 482131 Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria)

Abstract

The present study measured household hunger in South-East Nigeria amidst the COVID-19 lockdown. A total of 1209 households (urban and rural locations) were sampled. Household hunger was determined using the Radimer–Cornel hunger scale. Results show that before the COVID-19 lockdown, hunger prevalence in the urban areas was 85.5%, whereas prevalence in the rural areas was significantly lower, at a prevalence of 79.9% (7.3% level of association— X 2 = 6.499, p = 0.012). During the COVID-19 lockdown, the prevalence of hunger in the urban areas rose to 98.0% and 99.2% in the rural areas (4.9% level of association was X 2 = 2.888, p = 0.089). It was also observed that the COVID-19 lockdown significantly affected food prices. The major coping strategy employed by households was relying on less expensive foods (81.14%). High household hunger was identified as a short-term cost of the COVID-19 lockdown in South-East Nigeria. Only a few households (16.3%) benefited from the food aid programs and 16.9% from the government palliative cash transfer. It is recommended that the government setup a formidable unit that will develop physical and digital plans for effective implementation during a COVID-19 lockdown situation or other emergencies.

Suggested Citation

  • Johnny Ogunji & Stanley Iheanacho & Chinwe Victoria Ogunji & Michael Olaolu & Vivian Oleforuh-Okoleh & Nuria Amaechi & Esther David & Onyekachi Ndukauba & Theophilus Maduabuchukwu Ikegwu & Cresantus B, 2021. "Counting the Cost: The Effect of COVID-19 Lockdown on Households in South East Nigeria," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-13, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:22:p:12417-:d:676091
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/22/12417/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/22/12417/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Amaza, P.S. & Umeh, Joseph Chinedu & Helsen, J. & Adejobi, A.O., 2006. "Determinants and Measurements of Food Insecurity in Nigeria: Some Empirical Policy Guide," 2006 Annual Meeting, August 12-18, 2006, Queensland, Australia 25357, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    2. Devendra Raj Singh & Dev Ram Sunuwar & Sunil Kumar Shah & Lalita Kumari Sah & Kshitij Karki & Rajeeb Kumar Sah, 2021. "Food insecurity during COVID-19 pandemic: A genuine concern for people from disadvantaged community and low-income families in Province 2 of Nepal," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(7), pages 1-20, July.
    3. FAYE Ousmane & BASCHIERI Angela & FALKINGHAM Jane & MUINDI Kanyiva, 2010. "Hunger and Food Insecurity in Nairobi's Slums: An assessment using IRT models'," LISER Working Paper Series 2010-33, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    4. Sarra Jribi & Hanen Ben Ismail & Darine Doggui & Hajer Debbabi, 2020. "COVID-19 virus outbreak lockdown: What impacts on household food wastage?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 3939-3955, June.
    5. Kansiime, Monica K. & Tambo, Justice A. & Mugambi, Idah & Bundi, Mary & Kara, Augustine & Owuor, Charles, 2021. "COVID-19 implications on household income and food security in Kenya and Uganda: Findings from a rapid assessment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    6. Otilia Vanessa Cordero-Ahiman & Eduardo Santellano-Estrada & Alberto Garrido, 2018. "Food Access and Coping Strategies Adopted by Households to Fight Hunger among Indigenous Communities of Sierra Tarahumara in Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-14, February.
    7. Robert Ugochukwu Onyeneke & Christiana Ogonna Igberi & Jonathan Ogbeni Aligbe & Felix Abinotam Iruo & Mark Umunna Amadi & Stanley Chidi Iheanacho & Emmanuel Emeka Osuji & Jane Munonye & Christian Uwad, 2020. "Climate change adaptation actions by fish farmers: evidence from the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 64(2), pages 347-375, April.
    8. Stephen O Shisanya & Sheryl L Hendriks, 2011. "The contribution of community gardens to food security in the Maphephetheni uplands," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(4), pages 509-526, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Abderahman Rejeb & Karim Rejeb & Andrea Appolloni & Mohammad Iranmanesh & Horst Treiblmaier & Sandeep Jagtap, 2022. "Exploring Food Supply Chain Trends in the COVID-19 Era: A Bibliometric Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-33, September.
    2. Zahra Fozouni Ardekani & Seyed Mohammad Javad Sobhani & Marcelo Werneck Barbosa & Ehsan Amiri-Ardekani & Samaneh Dehghani & Najmeh Sasani & Hans De Steur, 2024. "Determinants of household food waste behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran: an integrated model," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(10), pages 26205-26235, October.
    3. Boglárka Anna Éliás & Attila Jámbor, 2021. "Food Security and COVID-19: A Systematic Review of the First-Year Experience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-18, May.
    4. Veknesh Arumugam & Ismail Abdullah & Irwan Syah Md Yusoff & Nor Liza Abdullah & Ramli Mohd Tahir & Ahadi Mohd Nasir & Ammar Ehsan Omar & Muhammad Heikal Ismail, 2021. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Solid Waste Generation in the Perspectives of Socioeconomic and People’s Behavior: A Case Study in Serdang, Malaysia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-11, November.
    5. Manyong, Victor & Bokanga, Mpoko & Akonkwa Nyamuhirwa, Dieu-Merci & Bamba, Zoumana & Adeoti, Razack & Mwepu, Gregoire & Cole, Steven M. & Dontsop Nguezet, Paul Martin, 2022. "COVID-19 outbreak and rural household food security in the Western Democratic Republic of the Congo," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 28(C).
    6. Lindsay M. Jaacks & Divya Veluguri & Rajesh Serupally & Aditi Roy & Poornima Prabhakaran & GV Ramanjaneyulu, 2021. "Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on agricultural production, livelihoods, and food security in India: baseline results of a phone survey," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(5), pages 1323-1339, October.
    7. Bashir, Muhammad Khalid & Schilizzi, Steven & Pandit, Ram, "undated". "The Determinants of Rural Household Food Security for Landless Households of the Punjab, Pakistan," Working Papers 126035, University of Western Australia, School of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    8. Donatella Saccone, 2021. "Can the Covid19 pandemic affect the achievement of the ‘Zero Hunger’ goal? Some preliminary reflections," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 22(7), pages 1025-1038, September.
    9. Suresh Gopal & Prakash Malliasamy, 2022. "Transformational Impact of COVID-19 on Savings and Spending Patterns of Indian Rural Households," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440221, February.
    10. Kibrom A Abay & Nishant Yonzan & Sikandra Kurdi & Kibrom Tafere, 2023. "Revisiting Poverty Trends and the Role of Social Protection Systems in Africa during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 32(Supplemen), pages 44-68.
    11. Brunckhorst, Ben & Cojocaru, Alexandru & Kim, Yeon Soo & Kugler, Maurice, 2024. "Long COVID: The evolution of household welfare in developing countries during the pandemic," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    12. Robert Ugochukwu Onyeneke & Roseline Daberechi Ejike & Emeka Emmanuel Osuji & Nneka Maris Chidiebere-Mark, 2024. "Does climate change affect crops differently? New evidence from Nigeria," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 393-419, January.
    13. Gaofeng Guan & Dong Liu & Jiayang Zhai, 2022. "Factors Influencing Consumer Satisfaction of Fresh Produce E-Commerce in the Background of COVID-19—A Hybrid Approach Based on LDA-SEM-XGBoost," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-19, December.
    14. Tarek Ben Hassen & Hamid El Bilali & Mohammad S. Allahyari & Sinisa Berjan & Darjan Karabašević & Adriana Radosavac & Goran Dašić & Ružica Đervida, 2021. "Preparing for the Worst? Household Food Stockpiling during the Second Wave of COVID-19 in Serbia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-19, October.
    15. Anna Doś & Monika Wieczorek-Kosmala & Joanna Błach, 2022. "The Effect of Business Legal Form on the Perception of COVID-19-Related Disruptions by Households Running a Business," Risks, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-17, April.
    16. Zhang, Jian & Li, Ting & He, Yuhui & Li, Zhaohui, 2025. "Does land transfer-out facilitate an upgrade in farmers’ consumption," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 2219-2233.
    17. repec:aer:wpaper:338 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Elias M. A. Militao & Elsa M. Salvador & José P. Silva & Olalekan A. Uthman & Stig Vinberg & Gloria Macassa, 2022. "Coping Strategies for Household Food Insecurity, and Perceived Health in an Urban Community in Southern Mozambique: A Qualitative Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-16, July.
    19. Simone Schotte & Michael Danquah & Robert Darko Osei & Kunal Sen, 2023. "The Labour Market Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns: Evidence from Ghana," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 32(Supplemen), pages 10-33.
    20. Bohuslava Mihalčová & Antonín Korauš & Olha Prokopenko & Jozefína Hvastová & Magdaléna Freňáková & Peter Gallo & Beáta Balogová, 2021. "Effective Management Tools for Solving the Problem of Poverty in Relation to Food Waste in Context of Integrated Management of Energy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-18, July.
    21. Principato, Ludovica & Secondi, Luca & Cicatiello, Clara & Mattia, Giovanni, 2022. "Caring more about food: The unexpected positive effect of the Covid-19 lockdown on household food management and waste," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:22:p:12417-:d:676091. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.