Food Insecurity and Coping Strategies Among Rural Farming Households: An analysis of Socioeconomic Determinants and Production Systems in Ikere, Ekiti State, Nigeria

Abstract

Despite owning only a small portion of the arable land, smallholder farmers— who constitute the majority of farming households—remain the backbone of the nation’s food supply. This study investigated the food insecurity status and coping strategies adopted by rural farming households in Ikere, Ekiti State, Nigeria. Primary data were collected from 255 households using a structured questionnaire. The Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS), Coping Strategies Index (CSI), and Ordered Logit Model (OLM) were employed to analyze the data. The findings revealed a mean age of 49.4 years and a maledominated (76%) farming population with low formal education. The primary staple crops cultivated are maize (66.7%) and cassava (62.4%). The HFIAS categorized 72.2% of households as food-insecure, with 46.3% mildly foodinsecure, 20.8% moderately food-insecure, and 5.1% severely food-insecure. The OLM identified five significant determinants of food insecurity status - sex (−0.478), education (−0.198), livestock rearing (−0.362), and access to agricultural information (−0.148), negatively associated with food insecurity, while land ownership (0.377) was positively associated with the likelihood of being more food insecure. Overall, the findings indicate that food insecurity remains a major challenge, necessitating policy interventions focused on human capital development and livelihood diversification to enhance household resilience.