Does Access to Basic Services and Productive Assets Influence Agricultural Households’ Dietary Diversity and Food Security? Evidence from Ogun State, Nigeria
Does Access to Basic Services and Productive Assets Influence Agricultural Households’ Dietary Diversity and Food Security? Evidence from Ogun State, Nigeria
Shakirat Bolatito Ibrahim1, Raheem Olatunji Aminu1,2*, Aisha Olushola Arowolo1 and Adams Sanusi Musa1
ABSTRACT
This study aimed to examine how basic services and agricultural assets could affect the status of food security and dietary diversity among agricultural households in Ogun State, Nigeria. Data were collected cross-sectionally from 208 households containing 1546 individuals. The results show that 73% of farmers owned the cultivated land, while 26% had rights over the cultivated land. The average distance of the sampled households to public and private hospitals in the study area is 2.33km and 0.88km. Most households consume cereals, roots, and tubers. As indicated by the household dietary diversity score, 85.64% of households showed a high level of dietary diversity. The food expenditure data shows that food insecurity affected 59% of households, with levels of severity and depth of food insecurity of 0.27 and 0.19, respectively. The ordered logit result indicates that gender, farmer association, cooperative society, extension visits, access to credit, remittances, and land ownership significantly influenced household dietary diversity status. In the logit model, age, household size, land ownership, cooperative society, extension visits, credit availability, land rights, and distance to medical centres are significantly correlated with food insecurity. Thus, policy strategies aimed at improving households’ access to functional healthcare services and cultivable agricultural land are needed to improve dietary diversity and food security.
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