Abstract
The study assessed the contribution of vegetable production to food security in Uruan Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Specifically, the objectives of the study were to identify the socio-economic characteristics of respondents and to identify the major vegetable crops grown by farmers for livelihood diversification in the study area. Sample sizes of 121 respondents were selected through multi-stage sampling procedure from selected agricultural zones in Uruan LGA. Data collected were analyze using descriptive statistics. Results of the study revealed that female farmers (88.3%) participated in vegetable production, while (11.7%) of the participants were males. Majority of the farmers aged 51-60 years (63.3%) were involved in vegetable production while a small proportion aged 20-30 years (2.5%) were also involved; 55% of the farmers had no formal education implying that their educational level were relatively low. In identifying vegetable crops grown by farmers for livelihood diversifications, waterleaf ranked 1st (x̄ = 3.61) followed by fluted pumpkin (x̄ = 3.59) while cucumber ranked 9th (x̄ = 2.44). Results of the hypothesis revealed that sex, marital status, farm size and system of land ownership were 11.519, 9.664, 44.072 and 44.817 respectively and were significant at 1%, 5% and 10% respectively. The study concluded that socio-economic characteristics of farmers are significantly related to vegetable production. The study therefore recommended that land tenure policy should be reviewed to enhance land ownership, human capital development should be prioritized, agricultural co-operatives should be formed, also, extension services should be provided to farmers.Keywords: Vegetable, food security, contribution, Uruan
Highlights
The socio-economic well-being of any society requires the optimal utilization of available resources to produce food for the generality of the people thereby ensuring food security. (Effiong, Ndifon and Oyeye, 2012)
In Nigeria daily intake of vegetables range from 200-450g/day. This is because of the current economic recession, consumers are more interested in the quantity of food they consume and not the quality and this leads us to the principle of RED in Nutritional Extension that asserts that R – Rest, E – Exercise and D- Diet are the panacea for fighting hidden hunger menace in Nigeria (WHO, 2000; Effiong, Effiong and Udo, 2015; Akpabio, 2005)
88.3% of the respondents were females, while 11.7% were males. This is in line with the findings of Charles and Bassey (2004) who asserted that vegetable production is dominated by women and the name “Women’s Asset or Crop”
Summary
The socio-economic well-being of any society requires the optimal utilization of available resources to produce food for the generality of the people thereby ensuring food security. (Effiong, Ndifon and Oyeye, 2012). Vegetable consumption in diets augments nutritive values of staple foods like rice, beans, yam and maize due to its rich assortment of vitamins, minerals, proteins, sugar and oils thereby controlling the incidence of hidden hunger (Nwalieji, 2006, Muanya, 2003, Umeha, 2002, Hughes, 1995). For this reason, World Health Organization (WHO) recommended daily intake of 400800g/day of vegetables worldwide. The food security index for Akwa Ibom and Uran Local Government Area is 20.5% and 15.9% respectively (Effiong et al, 2015; EIU, 2015) These shows that there is food insecurity in Nigeria which has resulted to hidden hunger. Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Wildlife Resources Management University of Calabar Calabar Cross River State, Nigeria
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