FOOD AND HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY IN NASARAWA STATE: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

The study identified factors militating against the achievement of household food security amongst various households in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. The paper utilized both the primary and secondary sources of data. The primary data relied on questionnaires. Structured questionnaires were administered to 340 households which constitute the sample size of the study. The elite theoiy was used as a theoretical underpinning for the study. Factor analysis was used to isolate and name the critical factors influencing the attainment of household food security in Nasarawa state. Findings revealed that economic, governance, institutional and technological constraints hindered the achievement of household food security in the study area. While the economic factors included climatic change and variability shortage of farm labour, limited access to farm land; the institutional factors were poor market access, weak support services, poor nutrition education and poor sanitation. The governance factors included political problems, rapid population growth rate and low crop yield, while the technological factors include inadequacy and lack of access to improved agricultural inputs and lack ofaccess to labour saving deduces. Despite efforts at attaining householdfood security in Nasarawa state, Food security is still a mirage. Therefore, governments at the local and state levels should design and implement short term and long term programmes in agriculture value chain to boost food production and productivity to enhance family income for improved household food security