Incidence, depth and severity of food insecurity among farming households in Sokoto State, Nigeria

Abstract

The paper examined the incidence, depth and severity of food insecurity among farming household in Sokoto, Nigeria. Data was collected with aid of questionnaire from a total of 440 farming households comprising of (220 beneficiaries and 220 non-beneficiaries of BOA) were randomly selected using four multistage sampling techniques. The data generated was analysed using FGT index. The result for the incidences of food insecurity as indicated by head count ratio shows that 39.55% and 48.18% of food insecure farming households beneficiary and nonbeneficiary respectively were not able to meet their recommended daily allowance (RDAs) which is 2,250 kcal valued at N278.40/person equivalent to 0.87 USD. The coefficient of food insecurity depth (gap) shows that 19% of beneficiary and 44% of non-beneficiary food insecure farming households are below the recommended daily calorie requirement. The severity of food insecurity shows that 3.6% of beneficiaries’ food insecure farming households are most food insecure in the study area as compared with 19% non-beneficiaries’ food insecure farming households. High incidence, depth and severity of food insecurity among non-beneficiary food insecure farming households, indicated that BOA has impacted on beneficiary farming households by increasing their food security status. Therefore, this study recommends financial policies that ensure financial support to farming households most especially non-beneficiary in the study area.