The Impact of Insecurity on Agricultural Food Loss in Nigeria.

Abstract

This research examined the impact of insecurity on agricultural food loss in Nigeria using the time series data from 2011 –2020. Regression analysis was employed to evaluate the impact of insecurity on agricultural food loss in Nigeria. The relationship examined was between the dependent variable: Agricultural gross domestic product (AGDP) which serves as a representative of agricultural food production. The explanatory (independent) variables are poverty rate, unemployment rate, crime rate, and federal government expenditures on internal security in Nigeria. The result indicated an R2 value of 0.42 which implies that 42% of the proportion of variation in AGDP was explained by the independent variables. Also, the result revealed that CIR and UNEMP were negatively related to Agricultural productivity (AGDP) i.e. contribution to food loss whose coefficients indicate (-0.27) and (-0.67) respectively. It is therefore recommended that Government and policymakers should make an unrelenting effort to improve the agricultural sector with the aid of modern mechanised equipment in order to reduce the level of unemployment, poverty, and crime rate in Nigeria and solve issues of insecurity in the country. Keywords: Insecurity, Agricultural productivity, Food loss, Sustainable development, Crime rate.