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" Effects of Rural Youth Migration on Food Security of Rural Farming Households in Kwara State, Nigeria "
Nofiu, Nofiu Babatunde
Salau, Shehu Abdulganiyu
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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1104856
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| Doc. No
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TLpq2273838176
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| Main Entry
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Nofiu, Nofiu Babatunde
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Salau, Shehu Abdulganiyu
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| Title & Author
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Effects of Rural Youth Migration on Food Security of Rural Farming Households in Kwara State, Nigeria\ Nofiu, Nofiu BabatundeSalau, Shehu Abdulganiyu
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| College
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Kwara State University (Nigeria)
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| Date
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2019
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| student score
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2019
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| Degree
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M.S.
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| Page No
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119
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| Abstract
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Nigeria, like other developing countries of the world is confronted with food security challenges. Consequently, food security issues have been the focus of most international and local organizations. The food insecurity is deepened by incessant migration of able bodied youth from the rural to the urban areas. Several studies have been conducted on factors influencing food security of households. However, none of these studies have addressed the influence of youth migration on crop yield loss and food security. Thus, this study assessed rural youths’ migration and food security among households in Kwara State, Nigeria. Specifically, this study examined reasons for youth’s migration, estimated the yield before and after youths’ migration, determined the food security status of the farming household before and after youths’ migration, assessed the influence of crop yield loss to youths’ migration on food security and described the effectual coping strategies adopted by the farming household in cushioning the effect of food insecurity. A three-stage sampling technique was employed to obtain a sample size of 240 farming households. The reliability of the data was based on memory recall of the household heads. Descriptive statistics, likert scale, food security index and binary logistic regression were used to analyse the research data. The study revealed that 65.8% of the household heads were between the ages of 41 and 60 years with an average age of 48.5years. About 86% of the household heads were males and majority (71.3%) of the respondents were Muslims. Agriculture constitutes a major source of rural household s’ income. Largely (51.3%) of these households have access to credit facilities, while 27.9% of them have access to remittances. The mean household size before and after youth exodus were 16 and 11 persons respectively. The average number of migrants per households were 5 persons per households. Furthermore, the study revealed that the major reasons for youths’ migration were lack of basic infrastructures, the search for white collar jobs, laborious nature of farming and poor educational facilitiesin the rural areas. The average crop yield before youths’ exodus was 1932.4kg/ha with a mean farm size of 2.57ha. On the other hand, 1450.40kg/ha was the average yield after youths’ exodus with a mean farm size of 1.64kg/ha. The study revealed that 61.7% of the households were food secure while 38.3% were food insecure before youths’ exodus. Worst still, 70% and 30% of the household were food insecure and secure after youth exodus respectively. The numbers of rural youths’ migrant, yield loss to youths’ exodus, level of education, household size, harvest and post-harvest losses, quantity of cereals consumed, quantity of legume consumed, quantity of root and tuber crop consumed and access to remittances are the major determinants of food security in the study area. Consumption of grains, engaging in off-farm jobs to increase household income and eating of foods that are less preferred are the most effectual strategies for cushioning the effect of food insecurity in the study area. It is therefore recommended that government should provide the basic infrastructures in the rural area to prevent mass rural-urban migration by youths. In addition, the household heads should educate the youths on the negative consequences of migration. Furthermore, policies towards reducing household size should be vigorously pursued through advocacy to enhance food security.
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| Subject
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Agricultural economics
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Developmental psychology
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Nutrition
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Sub Saharan Africa studies
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