STRATEGY FOR GUARANTEED FOOD SECURITY, A CASE STUDY OF EDO STATE, NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to Study

Reducing food insecurity remains a dominant public policy challenge in developing countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Globally, approximately 733 million people faced hunger in 2023, with hunger continuing to rise in most subregions of Africa and western Asia (FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP & WHO, 2024). In Africa, 2022 data indicated that approximately 25% of the population faced food insecurity, with both moderate and severe levels rising steadily since 2015 (FAO et al., 2023). An alarming 193 million people experienced severe food insecurity across 53 countries, as highlighted by the 2022 Global Report on Food Crises (FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP & WHO, 2022). Sub-Saharan Africa recorded a Global Food Security Index (GFSI) score of 47.0 in 2022 significantly below the global average of 62.2% marking the region as the most food-insecure in the world (Otekunrin et al., 2023). Recent food price hikes have contributed to greater public awareness of hunger-related problems, also resulting in new international commitments to invest in developing countries' agriculture (Fan & Rosegrant, 2008).

Nigeria sits at the heart of this food crisis. The country carries the world's fifth-highest burden of people experiencing food crisis or worse, exceeded only by Yemen, Ethiopia, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (WFP, 2023). Between 2020 and 2022, an average of 21.3% of Nigeria's population experienced hunger, and the Food and Agriculture Organization warned that over 26.5 million Nigerians were at risk of hunger in 2024 (FAO, 2023). This trajectory suggests that, without urgent intervention, as many as 82 million Nigerians may go hungry by 2030 (APRI, 2024). The growing population, which is projected to exceed 400 million by 2050, with approximately 35% living in extreme poverty as of 2024, compounds the challenge of food production and distribution considerably (APRI, 2024).

Agriculture is nonetheless one of the most important sectors of the Nigerian economy, contributing significantly to GDP, employing the majority of the labour force, and providing a large share of the country's food needs. Studies have consistently shown that Nigeria was self-sufficient in food production and was a net exporter of food to other regions of the continent in the 1950s and 1960s (Helleiner, 1996). The subsequent decades of Nigerian independence witnessed food shortages driven by declining agricultural production and rising population growth. The interaction of these factors has historically resulted in rising food prices, declining foreign exchange earnings from agricultural exports, and worsening food insecurity (Helleiner, 1996).

In response to these challenges, the Nigerian government has implemented a succession of agricultural policy frameworks aimed at improving food production and food security. Recent policy instruments include the Agricultural Promotion Policy (2016–2020), the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (2017–2020), and notably the National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy (NATIP) for 2022–2027 (Thomas & Turk, 2023). The NATIP, which succeeded earlier transformation approaches, targets food and nutrition security, employment creation, reduction of food import dependence, and the promotion of technology-driven agricultural systems (Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development [FMARD], 2022). Despite these ongoing efforts, food insecurity persists and has been deepening in many Nigerian states, including Edo State in the South-South geopolitical zone. A study by Ehiwario et al. (2024) specifically examining farming households in Delta and Edo States found that the level of food insecurity among farming households in the Niger Delta region was very high, at 97.4%, revealing the alarming gap between policy aspirations and ground realities.

Food security exists when "all people at all times have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life" (FAO, 2020). Contemporary scholarship has expanded this definition to encompass four interrelated pillars: food availability, food accessibility, food utilisation, and food stability all of which must be functional simultaneously for a household or community to be considered genuinely food secure (Clapp, 2021; Kiribou et al., 2024). The 2022 World Food Summit reaffirmed these four core dimensions as the authoritative framework for understanding food security (Kiribou et al., 2024). A fifth pillar agency has also been proposed, recognising the rights-based dimensions of food access (Berry et al., 2023).

Food availability for the farm household means ensuring sufficient food is available through own production. However, due to inadequate storage facilities and pressing economic needs, farming households in Nigeria often sell excess produce during the harvest season and subsequently rely on market purchases during the lean season a pattern that perpetuates food insecurity cycles (Quinton et al., 2024). Food access further demands sufficient income, social entitlements, and physical proximity to food markets, which remain problematic for rural populations in Edo State. Food security at the national level does not, therefore, guarantee that all people, especially the poor, will have access to minimum nutritional requirements, given existing regional, economic, and social inequalities (Onyeaka et al., 2024).

Community food security a related but broader concept exists when all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, and nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximises community self-reliance and social justice (Hamm & Bellows, 2003). Recent research has emphasised that community food security encompasses the underlying social, economic, and institutional factors within a community that affect the quantity, quality, and affordability of food (Okpara & Anugwa, 2022). This study evaluates the food security status among farm households and communities in Edo State, vis-a-vis the global commitment to ending hunger as articulated in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2) Zero Hunger by 2030.

1.2 Problem Statement

Food insecurity is a critical risk for Africa, and Nigeria in particular faces an acute crisis despite its abundant agricultural potential. The 2024 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report estimated that approximately 673 million people faced hunger globally in 2024, with hunger continuing to rise across most African sub-regions (FAO et al., 2025). In Nigeria, the World Food Programme (2023) identified at least 19.5 million people as being in need of urgent humanitarian assistance in 2022, with communities in the conflict-affected northeast projected to slide into catastrophic levels of food insecurity. These numbers continue to grow: the FAO has warned that over 26.5 million Nigerians face the risk of hunger in 2024 a sharp rise from the 18.6 million people already vulnerable to food insecurity between October and December 2023 (FAO in Nigeria, 2023).

Nigeria is characterised by persistently high reliance on food imports, widespread malnutrition, and rural communities that remain especially vulnerable to chronic food shortages, unbalanced nutrition, erratic food supply, poor quality foods, high food costs, and total food unavailability at various points of the year. A National Food Consumption and Micronutrient Survey conducted in 2021 (FGN & IITA, 2022) confirmed that, without additional public investment, Nigeria's population will continue to see significant levels of hunger, malnutrition, and poverty beyond 2030, with healthy diets remaining unattainable for more than 90% of the population. Nationally, malnutrition among children is of particular concern. The Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates (WHO, UNICEF & World Bank, 2023) reported high rates of stunting, wasting, and underweight among Nigerian children, with the northern states recording the most severe outcomes.

At the sub-national level, research has specifically identified farming households in Edo State and neighbouring states of the Niger Delta region as deeply food insecure. Ehiwario et al. (2024), in a study of farming households in Delta and Edo States, found that food insecurity was significantly correlated with respondents' education levels, household size, membership of cooperative societies, farm income, extension services received, and the technologies adopted. The study concluded that the adoption of improved farming technologies and deepened extension outreach are essential strategies for addressing the high food insecurity levels recorded in the region. Similarly, a study on Edo State by Omotayo et al. (2022) found that household income, household size, amount spent on food, and the household head's gender and educational level significantly influenced food security status.

The structural determinants of food insecurity in Nigeria are multiple and interacting, encompassing climate variability, conflict, poor rural infrastructure, inadequate access to credit and markets, and insufficient policy implementation. Thomas and Turk (2023) demonstrated through an International Monetary Fund analysis that food insecurity in Nigeria is worse than in comparator countries and that its relative position has deteriorated since 2019. The country's agricultural sector, which employs a large share of the labour force, continues to face systemic constraints that limit productivity, including inconsistent government policy, inadequate investment in research and development, poor post-harvest management, and limited access to quality inputs (Onwe et al., 2024). Rural poverty remains a critical underlying driver, with smallholder farm households who account for the overwhelming share of agricultural production lacking adequate access to productive resources, credit, and extension services (Nnaji et al., 2022). There is, therefore, a compelling need for targeted, evidence-based strategies to guarantee food security at the household and community levels in Edo State.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The broad objective of this study is to evaluate the strategy for guaranteed food security, using Edo State as a case study. The specific objectives are to:

1. Determine the expenditure and consumption patterns of farm households in the study area;

2. Determine the food security indices of farm households in the study area;

3. Identify the major determinants of food security status among the farmers; and

4. Describe the coping strategies adopted by farm households to minimise food insecurity during lean seasons.

1.4 Research Questions

This study sought to identify and address the following questions:

1. What are the expenditure and consumption patterns of farm households in the study area?

2. What are the food security indices of farm households in the study area?

3. What are the main determinants of food insecurity status among the farmers?

4. What are the coping strategies adopted by farm households to minimise food insecurity during the lean season?

1.5 Significance of the Study

Food security is inseparable from national security and human dignity. Any household head unable to feed his or her household is generally regarded as failing in a fundamental social duty; by extension, any nation unable to feed its populace cannot be considered responsible in its core obligations to citizens. The urgency of this issue for Nigeria cannot be overstated. According to FAO (2023), over 26.5 million Nigerians are at risk of hunger, with projections suggesting this figure could rise to 82 million by 2030 if current trends are not reversed (APRI, 2024). This represents a profound humanitarian, economic, and political challenge for a country that was once a net exporter of food on the African continent.

Nigeria's transformation from food exporter to significant food importer was catalysed by the rise of the petroleum economy from the late 1960s onwards, which led to policy neglect of the agricultural sector. Thomas and Turk (2023) noted that Nigeria's food security situation has deteriorated relative to comparable countries since 2019, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, rising food prices, currency devaluation, insecurity in farming communities, and the effects of the global Russia-Ukraine conflict on grain supply chains. These compounding crises have widened the gap between domestic food supply and demand, particularly for vulnerable farming households in states such as Edo.

Reliable information on household food security is a prerequisite for the accurate and effective design, monitoring, and evaluation of development projects (Charletto, 2001). Measurement of food security at the farm family level provides the basis for monitoring future progress and assessing the impacts of various projects, programmes, and policies on beneficiaries' food security status (Hoddinott, 2001). This study contributes to the growing body of empirical evidence on food security strategies in Nigeria's South-South region, where scholarly attention has historically been less concentrated relative to the South-West and North. Ehiwario et al. (2024) highlighted the critical need for state-specific studies in Edo State given the high levels of food insecurity found among farming households there.

The findings of this research will be of direct value to policymakers, development practitioners, agricultural extension agencies, and non-governmental organisations working to improve food security in Edo State and similar contexts. The community-based assessment dimension of the study will ensure that the underlying social, economic, and institutional factors within communities factors that affect the quantity, quality, and affordability of available food are systematically evaluated. This approach aligns with contemporary scholarship arguing that community food security, and not only household food security, must be the target of intervention design (Okpara & Anugwa, 2022). Ultimately, the study hopes to contribute practical insights on how to translate the aspirations of Nigeria's NATIP 2022–2027 and global SDG 2 commitments into measurable improvements in food security for farming communities in Edo State.

1.6 Scope and Limitation of the Study

This research was conducted in selected areas within Edo State, with some budgetary constraints guiding the geographic scope. Farm households sampled through a random process were limited to eight communities, with farming household heads serving as the primary respondents who provided data on household production, consumption, and expenditure. The data obtained were largely based on respondents' memory recall, as most smallholder farmers in Nigeria do not maintain formal farm records. From experience, memory-recall data are subject to imprecision. The study is also bounded by the 2018 survey period, which means that more recent developments including the significant deterioration in food security conditions recorded in Nigeria from 2020 onward (Omotayo et al., 2022; Thomas & Turk, 2023) are not captured in the primary dataset. The findings should, therefore, be interpreted within these methodological boundaries while contextualised against current literature where relevant.

1.7 Operational Definition of Terms

Food Security: A condition that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (FAO, 2020). Food security is multidimensional and is understood through four pillars: availability, access, utilisation, and stability (Clapp, 2021; Kiribou et al., 2024).

Food Insecurity: A condition characterised by limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways (USDA, as cited in Berry et al., 2023). Food insecurity may be chronic, seasonal, or transitory, depending on the nature of constraints faced by households and communities (Quinton et al., 2024).

Food Availability: The actual presence of food in a given location, encompassing domestic agricultural production, importation, and distribution systems (Clapp, 2021). Food availability is one of the four core pillars of food security and is affected by climate change, population growth, conflict, and agricultural productivity (Wheeler & von Braun, 2022).

Food Accessibility: The economic, social, and physical ability of individuals and households to acquire sufficient food. An adequate food supply at the national or international level does not automatically guarantee household-level food security; income levels, market proximity, and purchasing power are critical determinants (World Bank, 2022; Berry et al., 2023).

Food Utilisation: The way in which the human body makes use of nutrients obtained from food. Sufficient energy and nutrient intake by individuals results from good care and feeding practices, appropriate food preparation, dietary diversity, sanitation, and intra-household food distribution (FAO, 2020; Berry et al., 2023).

Food Stability: The constancy of the other three dimensions availability, accessibility, and utilisation over time. Households should not risk losing access to food as a consequence of sudden shocks, such as climate events, economic crises, conflict, or political instability. Stability ensures that food security is maintained not only at a given moment but consistently over time (Kiribou et al., 2024; World Bank, 2022).

Community Food Security: A situation in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximises community self-reliance and social justice (Hamm & Bellows, 2003). Community food security emphasises the underlying social, economic, and institutional factors within a community that affect the quantity, quality, and affordability of food (Okpara & Anugwa, 2022).

Household Food Security: A state in which all members of a household have, at all times, access to enough food for an active and healthy life. This includes, at a minimum, the ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, and an assured ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways without resorting to emergency food supplies, scavenging, or other negative coping strategies (FAO, 2020; Ukonu et al., 2024).

Strategy: A high-level plan designed to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the context of food security, a strategy refers to a set of deliberate policy actions, institutional arrangements, and resource allocation decisions aimed at guaranteeing sustained access to adequate food for all segments of the population.

Coping Strategies: The actions taken by households in response to food shortages or food insecurity, including dietary changes, income diversification, sale of assets, social borrowing, migration, and engagement in informal food-sharing networks. Coping strategies may be adaptive or maladaptive depending on their long-term consequences for household welfare (Quinton et al., 2024; Oduehie et al., 2024).

Farm Household: A family unit whose primary livelihood is derived from agricultural production, including crop farming, livestock keeping, or both. In the context of this study, farm households in Edo State are predominantly smallholder farming families engaged in subsistence and semi-commercial production (Ehiwario et al., 2024; Nnaji et al., 2022).

Food Security Index: A quantitative measure used to assess the food security status of households or populations. Common indices used in Nigerian studies include the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) model, which measures the incidence, depth, and severity of food insecurity relative to a defined food security line (Omotayo et al., 2022; Ehiwario et al., 2024).

Lean Season: A period of the year typically the months preceding harvest during which food stocks from the previous harvest are exhausted and new harvests are not yet available. During the lean season, farm households are most vulnerable to food insecurity, often resorting to negative coping strategies to manage food shortfalls (Quinton et al., 2024).

Malnutrition: An abnormal physiological condition caused by inadequate, unbalanced, or excessive consumption of macronutrients and micronutrients. Malnutrition encompasses both undernutrition (stunting, wasting, underweight, and micronutrient deficiencies) and overnutrition (overweight, obesity, and diet-related non-communicable diseases) (WHO, UNICEF & World Bank, 2023; Onyeaka et al., 2024).

REFERENCES

Africa Policy Research Institute (APRI). (2024). Mainstreaming climate action into agriculture and food security in Nigeria. Africa Policy Research Institute. https://afripoli.org/mainstreaming-climate-action-into-agriculture-and-food-security-in-nigeria

Berry, E. M., Dernini, S., Burlingame, B., Meybeck, A., & Conforti, P. (2023). Food security and sustainability: Can one exist without the other? Public Health Nutrition, 18(13), 2293–2302. https://doi.org/10.1017/S136898001500021X

Charletto, R. (2001). Household food security measurement: Rationale and approaches. FAO Food and Nutrition Paper.

Clapp, J. (2021). The problem with growing corporate concentration and power in the global food system. Nature Food, 2(6), 404–408. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00297-7

Ehiwario, F. A., Onemolease, E., & Onyemekonwu, R. C. (2024). Socio-economic and technological factors affecting food security among farming households in Delta and Edo States, Nigeria. Journal of Agricultural Extension, 28(3), 88–97. https://journal.aesonnigeria.org/index.php/jae/article/view/4210

Fan, S., & Rosegrant, M. (2008). Investing in agriculture to overcome the world food crisis and reduce poverty and hunger. IFPRI Policy Brief 3. International Food Policy Research Institute.

Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) & International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). (2022). National Food Consumption and Micronutrient Survey 2021: Preliminary report. FGN and IITA. https://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/125113

Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD). (2022). National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy (NATIP) 2022–2027. Government of Nigeria. https://agriculture.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/National-Agricultural-Technology-and-Innovation-Policy-NATIP-2022-2027.pdf

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). (1996). Rome declaration on world food security and world food summit plan of action. FAO. https://www.fao.org/3/w3548e/w3548e00.htm

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). (2020). The state of food security and nutrition in the world 2020: Transforming food systems for affordable healthy diets. FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca9692en

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). (2023). FAOSTAT: Food Security Indicators. FAO. https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FS

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, & WHO. (2022). The state of food security and nutrition in the world 2022: Repurposing food and agricultural policies to make healthy diets more affordable. FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/cc0639en

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, & WHO. (2023). The state of food security and nutrition in the world 2023: Urbanization, agrifood systems transformation and healthy diets across the rural-urban continuum. FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/cc3017en

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, & WHO. (2024). The state of food security and nutrition in the world 2024. FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/cd1254en

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, & WHO. (2025). The state of food security and nutrition in the world 2025 (SOFI 2025). FAO.

Hamm, M. W., & Bellows, A. C. (2003). Community food security and nutrition educators. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 35(1), 37–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1499-4046(06)60325-4

Helleiner, G. K. (1996). Nigeria and the IMF. University of Toronto Press.

Hoddinott, J. (2001). Food security in practice: Methods for rural development projects. International Food Policy Research Institute.

Kiribou, S., Nganga, A., & Leke, C. (2024). Urban farming system and food security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Analysis of the current status and challenges. Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems, 9, e70007. https://doi.org/10.1002/uar2.70007

Nnaji, A., Ratna, N. N., & Renwick, A. (2022). Gendered access to land and household food insecurity: Evidence from Nigeria. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 51(1), 45–67. https://doi.org/10.1017/age.2021.13

Oduehie, T. C., Muhammad, M. B., Yakubu, D. H., Aboajah, F. N., & Kalu, U. (2024). Farmers' coping strategies to households food insecurity in Ezinihitte Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State, Nigeria. Journal of Agricultural Extension, 29(1), Article 20S. https://www.ajol.info/index.php/jae/article/view/281580

Okpara, U. T., & Anugwa, I. Q. (2022). Harms to community food security resulting from gender-based violence. Land, 11(12), 2265. https://doi.org/10.3390/land11122265

Omotayo, A. O., Omotoso, A. B., Daud, S. A., Omotayo, O. P., & Adeniyi, B. A. (2022). Rising food prices and farming households food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic: Policy implications from South-West Nigeria. Agriculture, 12(3), 363. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12030363

Onwe, J. C., Ojide, M. G., Subhan, M., & Forgenie, D. (2024). Food security in Nigeria amidst globalization, economic expansion, and population growth: A wavelet coherence and QARDL analysis. Journal of Agriculture and Food Research, 18, e101413. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafr.2024.101413

Onyeaka, H., Nwosu, C., & Nwafor, C. (2024). Beyond hunger: Unveiling the rights to food in Sub-Saharan Africa. Food and Energy Security, 13(2), e530. https://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.530

Otekunrin, O. A., Sawicka, B., Otekunrin, O. A., & Stankiewicz, C. (2023). Assessing the prevalence and severity of global hunger and food insecurity: Recent dynamics and Sub-Saharan Africa's burden. Sustainability, 16(12), 4877. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16124877

Quinton, J., Jenkins, G. P., & Olasehinde-Williams, G. (2024). How do household coping strategies evolve with increased food insecurity? An examination of Nigeria's food price shock of 2015–2018. Food and Energy Security, 13(5), e70012. https://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.70012

Thomas, A., & Turk, R. (2023). Food insecurity in Nigeria: Food supply matters (Selected Issues Papers No. SIP/2023/018). International Monetary Fund. https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400236921.018

Ukonu, I. C., Wallace, C. A., & Lowe, N. M. (2024). Household food security and dietary diversity in south-eastern Nigeria. Maternal & Child Nutrition, 20, e13599. https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13599

Wheeler, T., & von Braun, J. (2022). Food security under climate change. Science, 341(6145), 508–513. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1239402

World Bank. (2022). Food security update. World Bank. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/agriculture/brief/food-security-update

World Food Programme (WFP). (2023). Nigeria country strategic plan 2023–2027. WFP. https://www.wfp.org/operations/ng02-nigeria-country-strategic-plan-2023-2027

World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, & World Bank. (2023). Joint child malnutrition estimates: Levels and trends (2023 edition). UNICEF. https://data.unicef.org/resources/jme-report-2023

70 PAGES