FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY STATUS OF HOUSEHOLDS IN ABA METROPOLIS

ABSTRACT

Household food and nutrition security depends on access to and availability of food, in terms of financial, physical, and social aspects, followed by proper utilization of the food through food hygiene and health care. This study was designed to assess the food and nutrition security status of households in Aba metropolis. Four hundred households were randomly selected. Anthropometric measurements (weight and height) were used to classify the body mass index of respondents. Data collected was subjected to analysis with the use of Statistical Product Service Solution (SPSS) version 20 using descriptive statistics. Results revealed that there were more females (69.0%) than  males (31.0%). Most of the respondents (62.5%) ranged between 40-59years, while 26.5% and 11.0% ranged between 20-39 and 60years and above, respectively. Most of the respondents (71.3%) were married, while 19.3% of the respondents were single. The respondents were mostly (59.8%) mothers. The majority of  the respondents (98.0%) were Christians. The result on their educational status further revealed that most  (59.8%)of the respondents had only secondary qualification. Most  (64.8%) of the respondents were traders. 40.3%  spent between  #41-60,000  monthly on food. Household food security status was assessed using  the Household Food Insecurity Access Prevalence Status Indicator (HFIAP). It was observed that most 58.0% of the respondents were food secure, 30.5% of the respondents were food insecure with hunger, 9.8% were food insecure with moderate hunger, while only a few 1.8% were food insecure with severe hunger. Results on nutrition security status of respondents showed that majority of the respondents were nutrition insecure (mild - 49.0%; moderate -16.3%) while some of them were found to be nutrition secure. Furthermore, most (66.5%) of the respondents had  normal body mass index,  more than a quarter (29.0%) of them had high BMI status (overweight and obesity) and only a few of them (4.5%) were underweight. Among the households in Aba metropolis, the Household Food Insecurity Access Prevalence Status Indicator (HFIAPSI)  shows that most of the households were food secure and the results from the nutrition security status showed that most households were nutrition insecure.  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES

  CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND OF STUDY

A household consists of one or more people who live in the same dwelling and also share meals or living accommodation and may consist of a single family or some other grouping of people (Smith, 2012)

Food security exists when all people at all times have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food, which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (UNCSD Secretariat, 2011).

Essentially, in order to achieve food security, a country must achieve three basic aims (FAO, 1997). It must:

a.)   Ensure adequacy of food supplies in terms of quantity, quality and variety of food.

b.)   Optimize stability in the flow of supplies.

c.)   Secure sustainable access of available supplies by all who need them.

       As expressed by FAO’s committee on world Food Security (FAO, 1983), this system consists of three components: adequate access, stability of food supplies and sustainability of food procurement.

The concept of adequate food is an important part of the definition of household food security. Adequate diet by (Hartog et al., 2006) is a diet that has the following characteristics.

They are:

a) It should provide adequate energy and protein.

b) It should provide micronutrients (vitamin and minerals) in sufficient quantities to maintain good health.

c) It should be safe and free from contaminants to health.

d) It should be culturally acceptable and in addition should satisfy the palate and  be capable of providing pleasure to this consumer.

Food insecurity at this household level, is one of the three (3) main causes of malnutrition (Schftan, 2011).

Household food security can be translated into good nutritional status when household members have nutrition security (FAO, 1997). Nutrition security by FAO (1997) is a condition that combines:                           

a)     Access to nutritionally adequate and safe food.                                     

b)    Sufficient Knowledge and skills to acquire, prepare and consume a nutritionally adequate diet, including those to meet the special needs of young children.        

c)     Access to health services and healthy environment to ensure effective biological utilization of foods consumed.

Hence, nutrition security requires simultaneously food, health and care. So, there is no way to achieve nutrition security without food security, at the household level (Edwards et al., 2006). Therefore, food and nutrition security exists when all people at all times have physical, social and economic access to food which is consumed in sufficient quantity and quality to meet their dietary needs and food preferences, and is supported by an environment of adequate sanitation, health services and care, allowing for a healthy and active life (Wusterfeld, 2013).

     1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Globally every second, a person dies from stagnation or complications of malnutrition (Svedberg, 2010).In the course of one year, the number of children who will die from lack of nutrition is over 3 million (Svedberg, 2010).

FAO’S tenth report (2009) on world hunger, stressed that food security or access to food by the poor, is not only as a result of poor crop harvest but also mainly due to high domestic prices, lower incomes and unemployment.

Urban food insecurity has become a growing humanitarian problem in most developing countries due to population, rural-urban migration, widespread poverty and increasing cost of food (MSF-F, 2008).Just like poverty, hunger in cities is only an outcome of an inequitable distribution of available resources (Wamani et al., 2008).

Nigeria has a stunting prevalence of 32% among children less than 5 years of age, while about 21% and 9% are underweight and wasted respectively (Osuji, 2015).

Given high prices, food importing nations like Nigeria face increased costs in meeting domestic food demands. The implication is that the already existing, hunger, malnutrition and insecurity is redoubled (Nwachukwu et al., 2011).

In South-Eastern Nigeria, the changing population densities, urbanization, poverty has resulted to variation in land use, which has given rise to environmental problems such as gully erosion, land slide, flooding, air and water pollution and depletion of land with high agricultural potentials (Chigbu and Onukaogu, 2012). Barde (2012) a member of the Nigeria parliament posted that “the government policy on agriculture is the reason we face insecurity today”. This means that unless the government ensures that access to food by the needy and vulnerable is improved, production increases alone will not be enough to ensure food security in the region.

1.3     OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY                                                       

1.3.1 General objective of the study

          The general objective of the study is to evaluate the food and nutrition security status of household in Aba metropolis.

1.3.2 Specific objectives of the study

   The specific objectives of the study include to:

1.     determine the socio-economic characteristics of respondents.

2.     determine the level of food security experienced by households.

3.     evaluate the factors that determine household nutrition security.

4.     evaluate the anthropometric characteristic of household members.

1.4                   SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The study of household food and nutrition security in Aba is necessary to fill the gap in current literature and to provide greater evidence for decision and policy making.

This will help in understanding the characteristics of food secure and insecure households and provide adequate data to measure hunger.

The study will provide further discussion and analysis of household expenses on food security and related household characteristics.

Additionally, this research can contribute to making evidence based policy and programming decisions and informed targeting of limited resources.

This project has the potential to transform our understanding of agricultural development in Aba, while empowering the governments to make better decisions on behalf of the rural poor.

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