Determinants of Household Food Insecurity in Rural and Urban Districts of a Southwest State, Nigeria

Aims: To compare food security status of households in Ondo East (a rural) and Ondo West (a urban) Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Ondo State, Nigeria.

Study Design: A comparative cross-sectional study design was adopted for the study.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in the two LGAs in September, 2012.

Methodology: A multi-stage stratified cluster sampling technique was used to select 420 (rural) and 406 (urban) households’ primary caregivers in the LGAs. A structured questionnaire, administered at interview was employed to assess socio-economic characteristics and food security status among participants. Household wealth index, estimated using principal component analysis was classified into five quintiles (1 indicating lowest to 5, highest) while households that affirmed to 3 or more of 18-statement food-insecure conditions were classified as being food insecure. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square test and logistic regression, with the level of significance set at 0.05.

Results: A total number of 850 households were visited, out of which interview took place in 826 (420 rural and 406 urban households), giving a response rate of 97.2%. Slightly above a quarter (28.1%) of the households in the urban areas were food secured compared to 10.5% in the rural. Household food insecurity status was determined by low educational status of care givers in both areas (rural: OR=0.4, 95% CI=0.2-0.6, urban: OR=0.6, 95% CI=0.5-0.9) and being in the first wealth quintile in the rural (OR=8.3, 95% CI=2.7-25.7) and third for urban areas respectively (OR=2.8, 95% CI=1.1-7.3).

Conclusion: Rural-urban inequality in accessing safe and nutritious foods observed could be improved by implementing nutritional programmes focusing on school feeding, particularly in the rural areas.