THE DETERMINANTS OF FOOD SECURITY STATUS AMONG PERI-URBAN FARMING HOUSEHOLDS IN ONDO STATE, NIGERIA

Peri-urban agriculture increases the availability of fresh, healthy and affordable food for a large number of other urban, peri-urban and rural consumers, as much of the food produced by peri-urban farmers is bartered or sold locally. The study therefore examines the determinants of food security status among peri-urban farming households in Ondo State, Nigeria. Descriptive statistics, food security index, logistic regression model and the coping strategy use index (CSUI) were the tools utilized for data analysis. Empirical result show that 54.4% of the households were food insecure while 45.6% were food secure. The food insecurity gap/surplus index result showed that food secure households exceeded the calorie requirement by 48% while the food insecure households fell short of the calorie requirement by 62%. The logistic regression estimates revealed that household income had a significantly positive effect on household’s food security status while household size had a negative effect on food security. The CSUI indicated that withdrawal of children from school was the most widely used of all the coping strategies in the study area while the least was purchasing of food items on credit. It is recommended that awareness creation on family planning and provision of credit facilities will help in dwindling food insecurity in the study area.