Exploring dietary diversity, nutritional status of adolescents among farm households in Nigeria: do higher commercialization levels translate to better nutrition?

Purpose: This study explored dietary diversity and nutritional status of adolescents among rural farm households in Southwestern Nigeria. It analyses if higher commercialization levels of farm households translate to better nutrition. Design/methodology/approach: The study was conducted in Ogun and Oyo States of Southwestern Nigeria, utilizing primary data from 352 farm households with a total of 160 adolescent members. The individual version of dietary diversity score (DDS) of nine (9) food groups was used to calculate adolescent DDS over a 24-h recall period, World Health Organization (WHO) AnthroPlus software was used in analyzing adolescents’ anthropometric data (height-for-age z-score and BMI-for-age z-score) while household crop commercialization index (CCI) was estimated for each farm household. Separate logit models were used to examine the drivers of adolescents’ dietary diversity and malnutrition. Findings: The study findings indicated that 100% of the adolescents consumed starchy staples while 0%, 3.1% and 12.5% consumed organ meat, milk/milk poducts, and eggs respectively. Results revealed that 74.1% and 21.2% of boys were stunted and thin while the prevalence in adolescent girls was 50.7% and 9.3% respectively. Prevalence of stunting was found to be very high (60-83%) in all the four CCI levels’ households indicating that belonging to highly commercialized households (CCI 3-4) may not necessarily translate to better nutrition of adolescent members. Food expenditure (p< 0.01) and access to piped water (p< 0.01) negatively influenced adolescents’ stunting mainly due to lower expediture on food items and lower percent of household having access to piped water respectively while education (p< 0.01) had positive effect on adolescents’ dietary diversity. Originality/value: Previous studies have contributed to the body of knowledge concerning the link between agricultural commercialization and nutrition using under-five children of the households. However, this is the first study that investigated the influence of CCI on DDS and nutritional status of adolescent members of farm households in Nigeria. Our study fills this existing knowledge gap in investigating adolescents’ dietary diversity and malnutrition among smallholder farm households

Assessing the Zero Hunger Target Readiness in Africa in the Face of COVID-19 Pandemic

Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2) is hinged on achieving zero hunger target globally by 2030. Many developing countries, especially African countries, are challenged with extreme hunger that are often caused or compounded by bad governance, conflicts and climate change. In this paper, we assess Africa’s readiness towards attaining the zero hunger target by 2030 in the face of COVID-19 pandemic. Patterns of Global Hunger Index (GHI) and each of its indicators across Africa are compared before the pandemic (2000-2019). The effect of the pandemic on the hunger situation in Africa is discussed by highlighting the mitigating measures put in place by selected African governments. We have found that most African countries have recorded steady reduction in their child mortality rates but high prevalence of undernourishment, stunting and child wasting indicates significant challenges hampering the achievement of the zero hunger target. The study recommends that African governments should prioritize sustainable agricultural practices and give serious attention to the formulation and implementation of policies that reduce hunger against the COVID-19 pandemic

Assessing the determinants of agricultural commercialization and challenges confronting cassava farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria

This study assesses the agricultural commercialization levels, determinants, and challenges confronting smallholder cassava farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria. This study was conducted in Oyo State, Nigeria using cross-sectional data from 211 smallholder cassava farmers and employing multi-stage sampling procedures. Descriptive statistics, Crop Commercialization Index (CCI), and Ordered Logit Model (OLM) were used to analyze the data collected. The results revealed that 83.9% of the cassava farmers participated in the commercialization of their cassava roots while the remaining farmers were non-participants. The greatest challenge faced by the cassava farmers in the study area was the incessant attacks by the Fulani herdsmen (destroying growing cassava on the farm) while other challenges included cassava cyclical gluts and poor access road. Moreover, OLM revealed that age, farm size, cassava marketing experience and distance to market had significant influence on commercialization levels of cassava farmers. However, in order to enhance increased commercialization levels of cassava farmers and peaceful coexistence in the study area, policies and intervention programmes that will facilitate rural infrastructure development and proffer lasting solution to the farmers-herders crisis should be given upmost priority.JEL Classification D13; M31; Q19

COVID-19 in Nigeria : why continuous spike in cases?

No abstract available.http://www.apjtm.orgpm2021Veterinary Tropical Disease

Household food insecurity and cooking energy access in Nigeria: A panel data approach

Access to sources of cooking energy has potential impacts on food security, however, there is a paucity of information and empirical evidence on their linkages. This study sought to ascertain the impacts of access to cooking energy on household food security in Nigeria, using the nationally representative Living Standards Measurement Study data. The data covered the period 2010/2011 to 2015/2016. The Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), and the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) were used to measure household food security, while the major cooking fuel type utilized by households was used as a proxy for cooking energy access. To unravel the effects of access to different cooking energy sources on food security, inferential analysis was conducted using the Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE). The findings of the study revealed that traditional/biomass (firewood, grass and charcoal) cooking energy sources are still widely used by households across Nigeria. The empirical analysis showed that households that use transition and clean cooking energy sources were eating more diverse diets than those that use biomass. Furthermore, households using clean cooking energy sources had lower HFIAS than those using biomass. It is imperative that more households in Nigeria should have improved access to cleaner sources of cooking energy to reduce carbon emissions and enhance health outcomes, and food and nutrition status. This will significantly improve the national food security outlook, and foster the attainment of national and SDG (2 and 7) goals