Rural Livelihood and Food Poverty in Ekiti State, Nigeria

The study examined the effect of livelihood activities on food security status of rural households in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Primary data were collected from 150 households through a multi-stage sampling procedure. The majority of the rural residents were in their economic active years, had diversified their livelihood activities so as to increase their income stream and also mitigate against shocks. The highest food poverty headcount was observed among female crop farming non-farm households with one to six members, while all households with more than 12 members were food poor. Food poverty incidence also reduces with higher education and engagement in non-farm activities while food poverty gap reduced with belonging to non-farm, female-headed households with seven to twelve members and dependency ratio of one. Severity of food poverty decreased with years of farming experience, educational status and farm size of crop farmers and those engaged in non-farm activities. The probability of a rural household being food poor reduced with household head's attainment of primary education and land ownership but increased with being headed by a woman and having high dependency ratio.