Journal article · 2019
Urgently strategic insights to resolve the Nigerian food security crisis
Outlook on Agriculture, pp. 1–9 · Published
Summary
What question does this paper answer?
What localized, data-driven and prioritized solutions, grounded in the knowledge of agriculture extension workers, could resolve the food security crisis facing rural farmers in Nigeria?
What did the study find?
A 6-hour focus group of 16 agriculture extension workers from three North-East Nigeria LGAs (representing about 900 farmers) produced ideas that multiple correspondence analysis organized into a significant two-dimension model (dimensions explaining 19% and 17% of inertia; r² = 0.05, p < 0.05). The most strategically urgent ideas were access to affordable seeds and fertilizer, modern farming knowledge and training, market information, road and transport infrastructure, affordable credit, and agricultural mentors.
Why does it matter?
The authors argue that food security solutions in Nigeria fail unless they are data-driven and customized by local experts to local sociocultural conditions. Their prioritized model is intended to generalize to rural farmers in Nigeria and to government policymakers in developing countries, pointing to fixes such as restoring input distribution, supporting extension workers and creating farmers’ cooperative unions.
This study is part of the evidence overview What is holding back Nigerian agriculture and farm technology adoption? Evidence from extension workers and farmer surveys
Key findings
- The study gathered insights from 16 agricultural extension workers from the Mubi South, Maiha and Mubi North local government areas of North-East Nigeria, together representing about 900 rural farmers, in one 6-hour focus group.
- Multiple correspondence analysis produced a significant, parsimonious two-dimension model of Nigerian food security crisis ideas, with the first dimension (constraint severity) accounting for 19% of the inertia and the second (productivity importance) another 17%, and an r² of 0.05 (p < 0.05).
- The most strategically urgent ideas for resolving the Nigerian food security crisis were farmers’ access to affordable seeds and fertilizer, knowledge of modern farming methods and training, access to market information, road and transport infrastructure, affordable credit or financing, and agricultural mentors.
- Extension workers reported that government agricultural inputs in Nigeria are often diverted by local politicians and middlemen, so farmers sometimes make do with fewer than 3 bags of fertilizer where they once used 10.
- Participants described middlemen holding a buying monopoly over rural Nigerian farmers’ produce, paying very low prices, manipulating weights and bag sizes, and mixing good and bad produce.
- Boko Haram insurgency, kidnapping risk and government bans on motorbikes in LGAs such as Mubi North and Mubi South have prevented both farmers and extension workers from travelling to markets and farms.
- Operational and resilience-building ideas included local processing and climate-controlled storage facilities, safe storage and training for agrochemicals, restored training from agricultural research centres, and government support for farmers’ cooperative unions.
Source: Strang et al. (2019), Outlook on Agriculture, pp. 1–9. DOI: 10.1177/0030727019873012
Study at a glance
| Research question | Which localized, prioritized ideas could resolve the Nigerian food security crisis for rural farmers? |
|---|---|
| Design | Pragmatic inductive study using consensual qualitative research (CQR) with embedded nominal brainstorming in one 6-hour focus group |
| Sample | 16 agricultural extension workers from Mubi South, Maiha and Mubi North LGAs (Adamawa State, North-East Nigeria), representing about 900 farmers |
| Methods | Multiple correspondence analysis in SPSS version 25 at a 95% confidence level, with member checking and a grounded theory literature review |
| Main result | Two-dimension model (19% and 17% of inertia; r² = 0.05, p < 0.05) splitting 20 ideas into strategically urgent, urgent, building resilience and operational tactics quadrants |
| Implication | Prioritize affordable seeds and fertilizer, training, market data, roads and transport, credit and mentoring for rural Nigerian farmers |
| Citation | Strang et al. (2019) · DOI 10.1177/0030727019873012 |
Abstract
The food security crisis is a serious worldwide predicament in developing countries but it is a relatively larger problem in Nigeria. We argued there was no solution for the Nigerian food security crisis because researchers had not customized theoretical models with data-driven priorities grounded on local agriculture subject matter expert knowledge. We collected data from local agriculture extension workers who had specialized knowledge of the problems. We applied the consensual qualitative research method with embedded nominal brainstorming and multiple correspondence statistical techniques at the group level of analysis to develop a proposed solution. Our final model highlighted strategically urgent ideas to increase agriculture productivity and appease the most severe constraints in rural Nigeria. The results extended what was already published in the literature and should generalize to rural farmers in Nigeria as well as to government policymakers in developing countries around the world.
Abstract as published in Outlook on Agriculture.
Keywords: Food insecurity; agriculture extension research; consensual qualitative research; focus group; correspondence analysis; agricultural policy; agricultural economics
Key terms
- Food security
- The condition in which people have reliable access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food; the paper notes food insecurity affects about 11% of the world’s population and up to 64% in some Nigerian states.
- Consensual qualitative research (CQR)
- A qualitative method used at the group level of analysis in which researchers interpret and reach consensus on data collected from participants (Hill et al., 2005).
- Multiple correspondence analysis
- A non-parametric multivariate exploratory technique that estimates and plots the relationships among more than two categorical factors so that related ideas appear close together.
Limitations
- The method is inductive: the authors chose the keywords used to partition the four quadrants and label the ideas, which was subjective (mitigated by member checking).
- The sample of 16 agricultural extension workers was small, although it represented over 900 farmers from Adamawa State, Nigeria; a larger sample is needed to represent the whole country.
- Additional studies and multiple analytical methods are needed to validate and extend the findings in Nigeria and other developing countries.
How to cite
Strang, K. D., Che, F., & Vajjhala, N. R. (2019). Urgently strategic insights to resolve the Nigerian food security crisis. Outlook on Agriculture, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1177/0030727019873012
BibTeX
@article{strang2019nigeria,
title = {Urgently strategic insights to resolve the Nigerian food security crisis},
author = {Strang, Kenneth David and Che, Ferdinand and Vajjhala, Narasimha Rao},
journal = {Outlook on Agriculture},
pages = {1--9},
year = {2019},
publisher = {SAGE},
doi = {10.1177/0030727019873012},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1177/0030727019873012}
}Related research