Food security among cashew farming households in Kogi state, Nigeria

Abstract

The efects of increasing the levels of cashew production on income, food security, nutrition and consumption among rural households are very complex. While its production is expected to boost rural households’ income, it has tendencies of reduc ing land and other resources for food crop produc tion. However, to the best of the researcher’s knowl edge there is not much empirical data available on its efects on households that are engaged in cashew farming in Nigeria. As a result, food security in Nige rian households engaged in cashew farming was ana lyzed, and the factors infuencing food security were identifed. Using a multi-stage sampling technique, 228 cashew farmers were carefully chosen for this study. Descriptive statistics, logit regression and food security index, were used to evaluate the primary data that was obtained through the use of a structured questionnaire. The result revealed that with an aver age of 2145 kcal per capita calorie intake, the major ity (58.8%) of cashew farming households were food insecure. Food security status among cashew farming households was determined by household size, farm ing experience, education level of households food planner, roots and tubers output, Annual of-farm income, output of cashew and output of cereals. The study recommended the need for nutrition-oriented programmes, adoption of modern family planning techniques and income diversifcation among cashew farming households.