Ecological Footprint of Food Consumption in Ijebu Ode, Nigeria

Abstract

A recent study establishes that since 1970, there has been an ecological gap between human needs and the planet's resources, with annual resource demand exceeding the bio-productivity of the planet. Specifically, humanity utilises equivalent of 1.75 earths to produce the ecological resources used, with half of this attributable to food consumption. The present work therefore seeks to provide an empirically-based insight into the environmental sustainability of the EF of food consumption in Ijebu Ode. A descriptive cross-sectional approach was used, and primary data were collected from 400 systemically sampled households via structured questionnaires and analysed descriptively using Microsoft Excel and differentially using mathematical models for calculating ecological footprints. Findings revealed that the household EF of food consumption in Ijebu Ode is 0.05gha per capita, with the footprint of cereal consumption (0.17gha; 37%) taking the major share, followed by meat with a footprint of 0.11gha (23.9%). As a result, it was concluded that Ijebu Ode has sustainable food consumption, which is necessary for its environmental sustainability. However, the sustenance of the former requires creating awareness of the need for sustainable consumption and prioritisation of integrated and population-wide policies and food intervention initiatives to encourage attitudinal change in favour of sustainable food consumption while fostering sustainable food production strategies amidst current environmental realities.