STRATEGY FOR ENSURING FOOD SECURITY IN TARABA STATE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

The study identified strategies for ensuring food security in Taraba State. Specifically, the study was designed to identify the determinants of food security; examine the production patterns of food  by  farmers,  identify  the  factors  responsible  for  food  insecurity:  and  determine  the strategies of ensuring food security. The study was carried out in Taraba State of Nigeria in the year 2011. The population of the study comprises all heads of households in Taraba State. A multi stage sampling technique was used in the selection of respondents. Two agricultural zones were selected using a simple random technique. These were Zing and Bali zones and they were selected using simple random sampling techniques and the process gave rise to the selection of four communities/cells  per zone bringing the  total number of communities/cells  sampled  to eight (8). From each sampled cell, a list of farmers was obtained from the farmers’ association and from the list of farmers’ households. Fifteen (15) heads of households were sampled using simple random selection techniques. The total number of respondents for the study summed up to one hundred and twenty (120). A set of interview schedule and questionnaire were used for data collection out of which 117 were found analysable. Frequency, percentage scores, mean scores, and standard deviations were used to analysed the data collected. Results from the study showed  that majority (79.5%) of the respondents  were males. The age limit of respondents shows that 56% were between the range of 20-29 years and the mean age was 32 years. The educational  level  of  the  respondents  reveals  that  the  farmers  have  enjoyed  one  form  of education  or  the  other  with  about  53.0%  having  OND/NCE  as  their  highest  educational qualification. Further results show that 65.8% of the respondents were single while 31.6% were married.  The  mean  household  size  of farmers  was 7  persons.  The  mean  years  of  farming experience of the farmers was 8.4 years. The majority (59.0%) of the farmers had 1-5 years of farming experience. Majority (62.4%) of the farmers engage in trading and their main source of information was through extension agents with 47.9%. Majority (84.6%) of the farmers grew maize grains and some crops like rice, yam, guinea corn, and cassava. The monthly income of the respondents revealed that majority (58.8%)  have an estimated  monthly income of below N20,000. The food security analysis of the farmers revealed that the availability of food items for the respondents were as follows: maize (X = 3.09) cassava flour (X = 3.09), and rice (X = 2.90) depicting availability of the respondents to a large extent while food items from proteins were perceived to be available to a great extent. The means scores show that most of these food items are available Taraba State. On the accessibility of food in Taraba State, majority (76.9%) of the respondents  accessed  their food items from both farm and  market  while 18% of the respondents got their food items from farms only. Most (57.3%) of the respondents purchased their food items with money. The prices of the items were moderate (63.2%). The access to food by the respondents as a determinant of food security is not a problem in the entire State. The study also identified  some barriers to  food access in the state. It revealed that religion (59.8%), culture (64.1%), poor  government  policies (64.1%), geographical  location (60.1%), inadequate market information (61.7%), all have more than half of the respondents agreeing to them as various barriers to their food access. In the utilization of food, carbohydrate food items were not eaten in a higher proportion during the last one day of the interview, while in the case of proteins such as beans, fish, eggs, and milk, they were eaten by the respondents on a 12 – 24 hours basis. The study also showed that the farming pattern which is mostly being practiced among respondents is mixed farming (93.2%) and mixed cropping (82.0%). This could be one of the reasons for high availability of many food items across the various respondents in the state. It is therefore recommended that subsidies should be provided on agricultural inputs by the state government,  local government,  and other private  organizations.  Also, opportunities should be provided for farmers to participate in  planning and decision making in agricultural programmes and policies in the state.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Nigeria has suffered from food insecurity and poverty as indicated in a recent estimate that put the number of hungry people in Nigeria at over 53 million, which is about 30 percent of the country’s  total population  of roughly 150  million;  and  52  percent  live under  the poverty line (Ajayeoba, 2010). These are matters of serious concern largely because Nigeria was self sufficient in food production and was indeed a net exporter of food to other regions of the continent in the 1950s and 1960s  (Ajayeoba,  2010). He stated that things changed dramatically for the worse following the global economic crisis that hit developing countries beginning from the late 1970’s onward. The discovery of crude oil and rising revenue from the country’s  petroleum  sector  encouraged  official  neglect  of the agricultural  sector  and turned Nigeria into a  net importer of food. By 2009 for example the Federal Ministry of Agriculture estimated that Nigeria was spending over $3billion annually on food imports.

Although agriculture contributes 42 percent of the GDP, provides employment and a means of livelihood  for more than 60 percent of the productively engaged  population,  it receives less than 10 percent of the annual budgetary allocations. Underfunding in this regard is central to the crisis of food production, and food security in Nigeria (Ajayeoba, 2010). This explains the persistence of poverty. According to the author, the loss of food sovereignty and the  dependence  on  food  importation  is  also  making  the  country  quite  susceptible  to fluctuations in global food crisis. This is why Nigeria was also strongly affected by the global food crisis in 2007/2008 leading to food insecurity, thus a need for food security.

Food security happens when all people at all times have access to enough food that is affordable,  safe  and  healthy  and  is  culturally  acceptable,  meets  specific  dietary  needs, obtained in a dignified manner and produced in ways that are  environmentally sound and socially just. Food security is not just a poverty issue, it is a much larger issue that involves the whole food system and affects everyone in some way (FAO, 2001).  According to the World Bank (2007), the global food security crisis endangers the lives of millions of people, particularly  the  World’s  poorest  who  live  in countries  already  suffering  from  acute  and chronic   malnutrition.   They   further   lamented   that   fundamental   considerations   are   to underscore the human dimension of the crisis,  monitor its impact on nutrition, health and poverty, plus its effect on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) including providing sound information and analysis to target the most vulnerable groups.

A nation is food secured when food is available and accessible in sufficient quantity and quality for a productive livelihood  for every individual. The increasing  issue of food insecurity,  particularly  in  Africa  has  been  greatly  attributed  to  wars,  conflicts,  natural disasters and bad governance.

Globally,  there  is  enough  food  for  all,  but  more  than  780  million  people  are chronically undernourished  (FAO, 2001).  Millions  of people in developing  world  simply cannot obtain the food they need for a healthy and productive  life. Much of  the scholarly debate on agricultural  growth and poverty in Nigeria  have followed  the  general trend of regressing measures of poverty against agricultural output per head and a time trend (World Bank, 2009). This is based on the knowledge of agricultural production landscape in Nigeria. These resource poor farmers are also characterized by a strong dependence on agricultural labour market, little or no forms of savings or storage facilities and cultural practices adopted are highly labour intensive (Okuneye, 2002).

The socio-economic and production characteristics of the farmers, inconsistent and unfocussed government policies, the poor infrastructural base, all interact in a synergism to asphyxiate  the  sector,  resulting  in  low  production,  high  prices  of  food  items,  inflation, underdevelopment and concomitant poverty. The place of agriculture in an agrarian society cannot be overemphasized  given its importance in the life of human beings.  Agriculture is expected to ensure adequate supply of food to the people. Millions of people in developing world simply cannot obtain the food they need for a healthy and productive life. Similarly, agriculture is expected to produce a high level of agricultural raw materials for the industries, save the industry and the nation from high costs of importation, produce excess for the local demand ( for food and raw materials)  for  export. Agriculture should continually generate employment for the people as well as a high level of returns for the farmers.

The performance of agriculture in Nigeria has not been able to match the expectation ascribed to the sector in the development process. At independence, agriculture sustained the Nigeria economy and held the promise of a vibrant agrarian economy (Akpan , 2009). In fact, according  to  Adeboye  (1991),  agriculture  contributed  in the 1960/61,  67% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In the 1999 – 2000, agriculture contributed between 40 –42 percent to the GDP. The Civil War (1967-70)  and  the emergence of petroleum in the early 1970s scuttled  the  production  foundation  of agriculture  through  lack  of visionary  planning  for sustainable  development.  The  sector  is  yet  to  regain  its  central  role  in  the  economy. Therefore, based on the  voluminous human, material and financial resources expended on agriculture in the last 40 years, the country ought to have done much better to address the fight against the mysteries of poverty, hunger, malnutrition and ill-health.

The  Global  Hunger  Index,  published  by the  International  Food  Policy  Research Institute (IFPRI) 2004, ranks developing countries according to their  performance on three indicators:  proportion of undernourished  as a percentage  of the  population,  prevalence  of underweight children under five and child mortality . On a scale of 0-100, with 0 indicating the absence of hunger in a given country, Nigeria’s 2008 ranking was in the 10-19 range, labelled “serious” The population segments with the highest vulnerability to food insecurity include poor farming households in the  Sudan- Sahelian zone of Northern Nigeria and the humid forest zones of Southern Nigeria, and pastoralists scattered over Northern Nigeria. The Sudan-Sahelian zone is particularly drought-prone,  the humid forest zones are  particularly flood-prone,  and pastoralists  commonly face fodder and water deficits due  to low rainfall situations in the North (World Food Prize, 2010).

In 2008, Nigeria introduced its National Program for Food Security (NPFS), laying out dozens of constraints to food security in Nigeria and adopting a “value chain approach” to address  these  constraints.  The  vision  of  the  NPFS  is  “to  ensure   sustainable  access, availability,  and affordability  of quality food to all Nigerians  and  to be a significant  net provider of food to the global community.” Considering Nigeria’s current position as a net importer of food products, this vision will take time to be realized. The short-term objectives of the NPFS are doubling the domestic production of cassava, rice, tomato, sugar and cotton, and increasing the production of millet, wheat and poultry by 50 percent. The medium-term objectives include increased processing and storage capacity as well as development of the market  and  physical  infrastructure  required  to  achieve  food  security (World  Food  Prize, 2010).

1.2 Problem statement

Globally, certain groups of people are more vulnerable to food insecurity than others. Food insecurity is a problem in many households  in developing world  including Nigeria (Idachaba,  1991).  Many poor  households  lack access  to  food  in the  right  quantities  and qualities at all times and therefore are described as food insecure (FAO, 1999; 2001). Food insecurity has been described as a condition in which people lack basic food intake to provide them with the energy and nutrients for fully productive lives. It may also result in severe social, psychological and behavioural consequences. Food insecure individual may manifest feelings of alienation,  powerlessness,  stress and anxiety, and they may experience reduced productivity, reduced work and school performance, and reduced income earning. Household dynamics may become disrupted because of a preoccupation with obtaining food, which may lead to anger, pessimism, and irritability. Adverse consequences for children include higher levels of aggressive or destructive behaviour,  hyperactivity,  anxiety, difficulty  with social interactions (e.g more withdrawn or socially disruptive). Others include; increased passivity, poorer overall school performance, increased school absences, and a greater need for mental health care services.

The government of Nigeria and the UNICEF in 2004 carried out a nutrition survey in Kano  State  captioned  ‘Household  food  security  and  nutrition:  Nigeria’.    The  findings revealed  that  the  northern  savannah  zone  of  the  country  was  facing  worsening  food insecurity.  It had the highest prevalence in the country of stunting or chronic under-nutrition among children under the age of five and an alarming statistics for micronutrient deficiencies of iron, vitamin A and iodine in adults and children.   This  has led to a high incidence of malnutrition-related  diseases, including marasmus, kwashiorkor and goitre, which were not only  undermining  health  but  hindering  agricultural  production  in  a  region  traditionally considered the bread basket of  Nigeria. Even though Taraba State as one of the northern states of the country is richly endowed with potentials for the development of agriculture to ensure safe, adequate and quality food production for the State, the State is still characterized with  a  large  number  of  people  who  are  food  insecure  and  therefore  vulnerable.  These vulnerable groups include: victims of conflict (e.g refugees and internally displaced people); migrant workers; marginal populations (e.g school dropouts, unemployed people, homeless people and orphans); dependent  populations  (e.g elderly people,  children under five, and disabled  and ill people);  women  of reproductive  age; ethnic  minorities;  and low literacy households.

The natural endowment of Taraba State and most part of the country on the contrary should not have allowed for these importation trends. The State has all it takes by natural potential to produce food that will enable her attain sufficient food supply. This is not yet a reality due to some problems, one of which is the poor strategies employed in the attainment of food security.  This has provided  the impetus for this research study. It  now becomes pertinent to raise the following question: What are the major determinants of food security in Taraba State? What are the food production systems in the study area? What are the factors responsible for food insecurity in Taraba State? And what then are the strategies that can be used to ensure food security in Taraba State?

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The overall purpose of the study was to identify the strategies for ensuring food security in Taraba State. Specifically, the study was designed to:

i.       identify  the determinants of food security in the State;

ii.       examine the food production patterns in the State;

iii.       identify the factors responsible for food insecurity in the State; and

iv.       determine the strategies for ensuring  food security in Taraba State

1.4   Significance of the Study

The  findings  of  this  study will  be  useful  to  the  ministries  of  agriculture,  policy makers, agricultural intervention programme planners, funding agencies, farmers, researchers in agriculture and food security, academics among others.

In addition,  the findings  of this study will enhance  a progressive  development  of policies in the State on food security as well as for appropriate intervention programmes to be introduced to the State. Researchers will find the results of this study as a basis for further studies and addition to knowledge.

The  findings  will  be  made  available  as  published   papers  in  both  local   and international journals, as well as being presented as seminar papers at conferences for use by various stakeholders. It will also serve as reference material for future researchers.

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