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Abstract
This study links food insecurity status of
farming households in the study area to their income
diversification strategies. Data for the study were
collected from 400 farming households in Osun State of
the southwestern Nigeria. Households were classified
into four categories based on how they obtain a living.
Descriptive statistics, Cost of Calorie Function (COC)
and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to
analyze the data. Income diversification strategies of the
households involved – combinations of crop production
with livestock enterprises; crop production with off
farm activities; off farm activities with livestock
enterprises and crop production only; at 60.0%, 10.0%,
8.0%, and 22.0% of households respectively. Income
diversification strategies have significant influence on
food insecurity at x2<0.001. Households that depend
more on off farm income ranked the best, having the
highest surplus index of 0.71 and the least shortfall
index of 0.21 which indicate that the food secure
households exceed the calorie requirement by 71% while
the food insecure households fell short of the
recommended calorie intake by 21%. The head count
ratio shows that 82% of individuals in this group are
food secure while 18% are food insecure. Households
that rely solely on crop production ranked the least. A
shortfall index of 0.41 and a surplus index of 0.62
indicate that food insecure households in this group fell
short of the recommended calorie intake by 41% while
food secure households exceed the calorie requirement
by 62%. Head count ratio reveals that 79% of the
individuals are food secure while 21% are food insecure.
Results have shown that food insecurity among farming
households in the study area was influenced by Income
diversification strategies.