Analysis of Food Security Among Farming Households in Imo State

Abstract
Prevalence of food insecurity has remained a concern in Imo State and indeed the Sub-Saharan Africa. Hence, this study investigated the analysis of food security among farming households in Imo State, Nigeria. Multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select 144 farmers for this study. Information on the objectives of this study was elicited from the sampled respondents through a well- structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Food security index and
Probit regression model. Results showed that the mean age of the farmers was 64 years, 7 persons per household and 12 years of educational attainment. Results also showed that only 35.4% of the farming households were able to meet the recommended calorie intake of 2500kcal per capita per day, while remaining was not. This result portrays that the study area is food insecure since the proportion of
food insecure households is greater than that of food secure ones. The food surplus/insecurity gap index showed that food secure households exceeded
the calorie requirement by 314%, while the food insecure households fell short of the calorie requirement by 76%. Age, household size, educational attainment, farming experience, farm size, access to credit, quantity of own production were determinants of food security status of the farm households. The study recommended that
government in collaboration with other stakeholders in agriculture should strengthen existing policies in food crop production.