INSECURITY AND POVERTY: TWO SIDES OF THE FOOD SECURITY COIN IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The relationship between insecurity, poverty and food security is a bidirectional, dynamic yet complicated one. This is because one can become both a cause and a consequence of the other. Contemporary studies have shown that insecurity (disruption of economic activities) could lead to loss of asset and source of livelihood (poverty) and in extension food insecurity. On the other hand, poverty can be a major cause of insecurity and food security. This study examined the relationship between insecurity, poverty and food security in Nigeria. The study employed time series data on internally displaced person by violent conflicts (IDPVC) as proxy for insecurity, household consumption expenditure (HCEXP) as proxy to capture level of poverty and prevalence of undernourishment (POUN) as proxy for food insecurity all covering a period of 19 years (2001-2020). The data were sourced from the World Development Indicator. The study used STATA software (version 13) to analyze the collected data. The study adopted the Error Correction Model (ECM) to investigate the relationship between poverty, insecurity and food security in Nigeria. The study found a strong positive relationship between insecurity, and food security status of Nigerians. The study further found that an increase in the household consumption expenditure will reduce food insecurity. As a result of these findings, the study recommended among others that Government and private sectors should make concerted efforts to improve agricultural productivity, This could be achieved through unfettered access to agricultural inputs (high yielding varieties seeds, fertilizers, irrigations facilities, farm machines, storage facilities) for farmers especially smallholder subsistent farmers, revision of the current land tenure system in Nigeria, encouraging cutting-edge agricultural research and development.