Research
Assessment of Households’ Food Security and Hunger Level among Communities in Ile-Ife, Nigeria
This study assessed households’ food security level among different communities in Ile-Ife. To achieve this, ten different communities with varying demography including educational and economic backgrounds were identified within the study area. Field Survey method was used in which survey of market prices of food stuff, diet and nutrition, social wellbeing, food accessibility and affordability as well as price fluctuation and variation in household’s social backgrounds were the considered parameter. The results revealed that food insecurity is still high among the selected communities in Ile- Ife whereby 41% of the households cannot guarantee their households food for a month, while some have one or more household members skipped a meal in a day for lack of food whenever there is food shortage. Food insecure households have their households’ head as mostly artisans and were more likely to have no educational background. However, households with the high income earning heads are more food secured compared to households with a low income head. Poverty, poor economic activity, low agricultural productivity, lack of access to basic services like health facilities and food markets all play significant role on food security.
