Analysis of the Dimensions and Determinants of Household Food Security Status among Maize Farming Households in Lagos State, Nigeria

The study focused on analysis of the dimensions and determinants of household food security status among maize farming households in Lagos State, Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study were to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, examine the dimensions of food security status of the households, determine their food security status and examine the factors influencing food security among the maize farming households in the study area. Primary data for the study were obtained from 155 maize farming household heads with the aid of structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, food security index assessment and logit regression model were used to analyse the data. The results showed that majority (91.6%) of the households were headed by males who were aged 59 years, on the average, married (91.6%) and their level of literacy was very high as all of the respondents had a form of formal education. The mean household size of the study area was 7 members. The household heads had farming experience of 32 years, a mean farm size of 2.14 hectares for maize farming and an average of 1.24 hectares for farming other crops. The results further showed that 77.4% of the household heads perceived food to be moderately available for consumption throughout the year, 81.3% had three square meals each day and 81.2% perceived their food quality consumed to be high all year round. Consequently, majority (97%) of them were food secure. Significant determinants of food security status among the households were farm size, household size and access to credit facilities. Farm size and access to credit facilities influenced food security positively while household size affected it negatively. It was recommended that government should create enabling environment for the farmers to have easy access to more arable land and credit facilities to help them expand their production in order to improve food security for both the farmers and the citizens at large. Keywords: food security, household, socio-economics DOI: 10.7176/JESD/12-20-04 Publication date:October 31st 202