Effect of Income Diversification Strategies on food Insecurity Status of Farming Households in Africa: Result of Analysis from Nigeria

This study links food insecurity status of farming households in the study area to their income diversification strategies. Data for the study were collected from 400 farming households in Osun State of the southwestern Nigeria. Households were classified into four categories based on how they obtain a living. Descriptive statistics, Cost of Calorie Function (COC) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the data. Income diversification strategies of the households involved – combinations of crop production with livestock enterprises; crop production with off farm activities; off farm activities with livestock enterprises and crop production only; at 60.0%, 10.0%, 8.0%, and 22.0% of households respectively. Income diversification strategies have significant influence on food insecurity at x2<0.001. Households that depend more on off farm income ranked the best, having the highest surplus index of 0.71 and the least shortfall index of 0.21 which indicate that the food secure households exceed the calorie requirement by 71% while the food insecure households fell short of the recommended calorie intake by 21%. The head count ratio shows that 82% of individuals in this group are food secure while 18% are food insecure. Households that rely solely on crop production ranked the least. A shortfall index of 0.41 and a surplus index of 0.62 indicate that food insecure households in this group fell short of the recommended calorie intake by 41% while food secure households exceed the calorie requirement by 62%. Head count ratio reveals that 79% of the individuals are food secure while 21% are food insecure. Results have shown that food insecurity among farming households in the study area was influenced by Income diversification strategies.