SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND INFRASTRUCTURAL CHALLENGES AS DETERMINANT OF FOOD SECURITY AMONG RURAL FARMERS IN DELTA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This research looked at the socio-economic and infrastructural challenges as determinant offood security among rural farmers in Delta state. Food is an essential requirement for all livingthings, despite the importance of food in society, food security cannot be downplayed. Thespecific objectives were to: examine the effect of poverty on food security among rural farmers;identify the infrastructural challenges faced by rural farmers in achieving food security. Thesample size is 271 respondents and it was determined by using Raosoft(R) software. The multistagesampling technique was used for this study. The data for this study were collected throughthe use of well-structured questionnaire. The majority of those surveyedwith a grand meanscore of 3.40 strongly agreed that poverty has so much increased the rate of food insecurity. Agrand mean score of 3.02 also indicated that the occurrence of conflict in the communities hasa negative effect on food security. Majority of those surveyedwith grand mean score of 3.47agreed that corruption has been one of the foremost challenges in achieving food security. Therespondents, with a grand mean of 3.41, also agreed that infrastructural challenges are one ofthe major problems in achieving food security. It was found that majority of those surveyedwith the grand mean of 1.80 agreed that they were not food secure.