Assessment of Households Food Access and Food Insecurity in Urban Nigeria: A Case Study of Lagos Metropolis
The study was carried out to assess the prevalence of food insecurity and the level of household food access, as household transit from major harvest period to hunger/lean period in Lagos metropolis. Panel data set was gathered from a total of 180 households in three income settlements of Lagos metropolis using questionnaire. Analysis of data was done using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentages; Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) and Household Dietary Diversity Scale (HDDS) were used to assess food insecurity and access, while a probit regression model was specified to determine the variables responsible for increasing the probability of household’s being food insecure during the hunger period. The result of the study showed that for the metropolis combined, during the harvest period, households in the metropolis had adequate food access with HFIAS score of 6.45±0.41 which worsened significantly (p <0.01) to an average food access of 12.44± 0.45 during the hunger period. The mean HDDS score also showed that households’ dietary diversity was lower during the hunger period with an average score of 2.54 ± 0.09 from 3.25 ± 0.10 during the harvest period. Households with older heads (p < 0.01), larger sizes (p <0.1) and with experiences of job loss among employed members (p < 0.1) had the propensity of being food insecure, while households with more adult male members (p < 0.05) had the propensity of being food secure.
