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FEEDING STRATEGIES AMONG PIG FARMING HOUSEHOLDS AMID HIGH COST OF FEED IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA: IMPLICATIONS FOR FOOD SECURITY

OJO Olaniyi Oluwatosin, OLOWOYEYE Janet Chinwe, EZEKIEL Abimbola Moji

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Abstract

The study examined the effects of response options adopted against high cost of pig feed on food security of farmers in southwestern Nigeria. A multi stage sampling procedure was used to select 480 pig farming households and the data from the sample were collected through a structured questionnaire. Both descriptive statisctics and multinomial logit regression were used to analyse the data. Findings showed that majority of the respondents were male, married and in their middle age. Futhermore, respondents who used commercial feeds were the most food secure and also the least severely food insecure, while respondents who rationed feed (skipping meal times and reducing meal size) were the least food secure as well as most severely food insecure. Findings showed that farming households’ food security status was significantly determined by gender, maritals status, access to credit, membership of farmers group, training attendance, use of compounded feed, use of commercial feed, access to extension services, underfeeding, age, household size and pig farming experience. The findings especially underfeeding (reducing pig feed size and skiping pig feed portion) can be addressed by subsidising commercial feed prices for farmers and/or intensifying feed formulation trainings for farmers so that they can produce feed on their own at a relatively cheaper cost and in adequate quantity to discourage underfeeding of the pigs.

Keywords: feeding strategies, pig, high cost, food security, southwestern Nigeria.