Determinants of vulnerability of rural non-farm and farm households to food insecurity in South East, Nigeria

Abstract

NA Okonkwo, AP Obot*, KD Ude, CP Onwuemelie, FO Okechukwu and RA Agianpuye

Food insecurity remains a major concern for numerous rural households in Sub-Saharan Africa who rely on agriculture as their main source of livelihood. To ensure food security among rural communities, policymakers need information on the vulnerability and determinants of vulnerability so as to devise strategies that non-farm and farm households can use to cope with economic shock. Using Vulnerability Index (VI) Analysis and OLS multiple regression, we explored the prevalence of vulnerability to food insecurity among rural non-farm and farm households in South East, Nigeria. The results showed that both rural non-farm (0.516) and farm (0.450) households have normal level of vulnerability and are at normal risk of being futuristically food insecure according to UNICEF standard parameters to measure household’s vulnerability. The prominent difference in the determinants of vulnerability between both groups is that the value of access to credit, age of household head and membership of social organization was significant among the rural farm households and not among the rural non-farm households. Likewise, households dependency ratio, years of primary occupational experience and households size was significant among the rural non-farm households but not in the rural farm households. In both cases, increasing educational level and household income could help to reduce vulnerability to food insecurity. The results highlight the need for policies and programs to help rural non-farm and farm households to improve their overall food security and develop resilience strategies to food insecurity.