Food Security among Households in Northern Nigeria: Descriptive Analysis Open Access

Abstract

In Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa with a population of 140 million, about 50 million people suffer from extreme hunger. Food insecurity and malnutrition have profound implications for health and development, and present major obstacles to attaining the Millennium Development Goals. Reducing poverty and hunger remain a key challenge in the country. Northern Nigeria, where the prevalence and demographics of food security have not been adequately quantified, may be better categorized as facing problems (drought, climate change, food unavailability, etc.) similar to those in Niger, rather than in Southern Nigeria. The research objective is to determine the status of household food security in Northern Nigeria, using the Living Standards Measurement Study - Integrated Survey on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA), to expand on current knowledge and literature. Furthermore, this analysis hopes to aid in informing further research, policy, and programming in the region. Household hunger analysis of this data categorized 99.5% of households as having little to no hunger within the past 7 days, with 0.2% of households having moderate hunger and 0.2% having severe hunger. With 13.6% of households were unable to meet their food provisioning needs for at least one month of the year, there is a clear issue of seasonal hunger in Northern Nigeria. Using expenditure data, the dietary diversity available to household in Northern Nigeria ranged from 1 to 12 food groups, with a mean of 6.93 foods (SD=2.03). Households in the study population were especially lacking fruits and dairy from their diets, likely to resulting in health and nutritional issues. The limitations of measuring food security in the LSMS-ISA dataset are discussed.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................................... 1
Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction and Rationale .......................................................................................................... 2
Problem Statement ...................................................................................................................... 4
Purpose Statement ...................................................................................................................... 5
Significance Statement ................................................................................................................ 5
Chapter 2: Literature Review ........................................................................................................... 7
Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 7
Consequences of Food Insecurity .............................................................................................. 10
Causes of Food Insecurity .......................................................................................................... 17
Measurements of Food Security ................................................................................................ 19
FAO Method ........................................................................................................................... 23
Household Income and Expenditure Surveys ....................................................................... 26
Food Intake Surveys / Food Frequency .................................................................................. 28
Anthropometry ...................................................................................................................... 30
Qualitative Measures of Food Security .................................................................................. 32
Other Measures ..................................................................................................................... 36
LSMS-ISA .................................................................................................................................... 37
Scope of the Problem in Nigeria ................................................................................................ 41
Summary of Current Problem and Study Relevance ............................................................. 47
Chapter 3: Methods ....................................................................................................................... 48
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 48
Population and Sample .............................................................................................................. 48
Procedures ................................................................................................................................. 49
Expenditure ............................................................................................................................ 50
Household Hunger ................................................................................................................. 50
Months of Adequate Household Food Provisioning for Measurement of Household Food Access (MAHFP) ..................................................................................................................... 51
Household Dietary Diversity .................................................................................................. 52
Limitations and Delimitations .................................................................................................... 54
Chapter 4: Results .......................................................................................................................... 57
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 57
Population Description .............................................................................................................. 57
Household Expenditure ............................................................................................................. 59
Household Hunger ..................................................................................................................... 59
Months of Adequate Household Food Provisioning for Measurement of Household Food Access (MAHFP) ......................................................................................................................... 61
Household Dietary Diversity ...................................................................................................... 65
Chapter 5: Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 69
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 69
Summary of Results ................................................................................................................... 69
Expenditure ................................................................................................................................ 70
Household Hunger ..................................................................................................................... 71
Months of Adequate Household Food Provisioning for Measurement of Household Food Access (MAHFP) ......................................................................................................................... 73
Household Dietary Diversity ...................................................................................................... 75
Chapter 6: Recommendations ....................................................................................................... 78
References ..................................................................................................................................... 86

About this Master's Thesis

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School	Rollins School of Public Health
Department	Hubert Department of Global Health
Degree	MPH
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Health Sciences, Nutrition Health Sciences, Public Health
Keyword	northern nigeria dietary diversity nigeria hunger food security
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	McFarland, Deborah A, Emory University
Committee Members	Girard, Amy Webb, Emory University
Partnering Agencies	Does not apply (no collaborating organization)

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