FACTORS INFLUENCING THE DIETARY DIVERSITY STATUS OF RURAL FARMING HOUSEHOLDS: A CASE STUDY OF ODEDA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, OGUN STATE NIGERIA

Bachelor of Science Suliat Anuoluwapo Azeez, BSc

Master's thesis

Abstract:

The study examined the dietary diversity of rural farming households in Odeda local government area of Ogun State, Nigeria. These households face resource constraints that limit their access to optimum food production and procurement, affecting their dietary diversity. The research collected data on socio-economic characteristics, food consumption, food source, and dietary diversity constraints. Various data analysis techniques such as frequency counts, means, percentages, chi-square, t-test, correlation, and ordered logit regression were used. Results reveal that 66.7% of the farming household heads were male, 72.7% were married, 52.7% were Christians had access to extension service, about 79.3% had some form of educations. The mean age, household size, farm size, farming experience and Primary income of the respondents were 42 years, 5 persons, 2.13 hectares, 18.9 years, and N41,340 respectively. Based on food consumption, vegetables, oil and fat and cereals were found to be consumed more among rural farming households were found to be the food consumed most by the rural farming households in the study area. The main source of the food consumed by the rural farming households is the market, however some of the households got some of their food items through their cultivation effort on the farm. The estimated food consumption score shows that the majority (87.3%) are within the borderline while the mean dietary diversity score is 6.99 with majority of the households being in the high dietary diversity group. The constraints that mainly affected dietary diversity are high cost of food (3.90), belief about some certain foods (3.72), low income (3.44) and distance to the market (x=3.28). The study found that age and farm size have a significant relationship with dietary diversity, while female-headed households tend to have more diverse diets. However, it remains unclear if rural farming households are achieving adequate quality and quantity in their diets. To promote dietary diversity, the study suggests cultivating different crops alongside the main crops. Further research is needed to explore other areas of food consumption in rural farming households.

Keywords

Food consumption, Rural, Farming Households, Diversity Score, Dietary diversity

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 24. 4. 2023

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 29. 5. 2023
• Supervisor: prof. Ing. Jan Banout, Ph.D.
• Reader: Adéla Fraňková, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

Master programme:
Agri-food Systems and Rural Development