Do climate-smart agricultural practices drive food security of maize farming households in Ogun state, Nigeria?

Abstract

Using multiple Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices (CSAP) have proven to be effective in combating the challenges of climate variability which affect the food security of smallholders, especially cereal farmers. Limited information exists on CSAP users and food security in Nigeria. Therefore, the effect of CSAP on food security among maize farmers in Ogun State, Nigeria was examined. Primary data was collected from 252 maize farmers with the aid of a well-structured questionnaire through a three-stage sampling procedure and analyzed using descriptive statistics, household dietary diversity score, Simpson index and ordered logit regression model. On the average, the maize farmers were 47 years old, had household size of five persons and farm size of 1.8ha. Most maize farmers were high users of CSAP (60.00%) and also food insecure (54.15%) due to low dietary diversity score while, 45.85% were food secure due to medium and high dietary diversity. The level of CSAP used, positively influenced the probability of being food secure at 5% significance level, alongside age and access to extension agents at 1% level. Being a male maize farmer and household size reduced the probability of food security at 1% level. It was concluded that Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices improve food security among maize farmers and should thus be encouraged. Food security programs among farmers should target older farmers and females while increasing access to extension services and enlightenment on birth control measures.

Keywords: Climate Smart Agricultural Practices, Food Security, Household Dietary Diversity Score, Maize farmers.