Abstract

AbstractClose to 14 million people in Nigeria, including children, are malnourished. I hypothesize that demographic considerations play an important role in food insecurity within Nigerian households. Using data from three waves of the World Bank’s Living Standard Measurement Survey for Nigeria, I illustrate spatial patterns of food security in the country. Using fixed effects regressions, I also show that, at the household level, larger households have worse food security outcomes and are more likely to report being food insecure.

Abstract

Climate forecasting is a crucial tool for managing risks in climate-sensitive economic sectors like agriculture. Although rainfed subsistence farming dominates livelihoods in Africa, information on access, integration in farm decisions and impact of improved seasonal climate forecasting remains scanty. This paper addresses this gap using representative data of 653 households across three regions in North-Central Namibia.

In the context of climate change and its effects, production and consumption of orphaned crops such as sweet potato has been promoted as alternative food diets in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, sustainable production of these crops is hampered by poor access to seed. This paper assesses seed security among smallholder sweet potato producers in Kenya and its implications on household food security. Data for the paper were collected through a survey of 383 sweet potato producing households in Kirinyaga and Homabay Counties of Kenya.

Why do many smallholder farmers fail to adopt what appear to be relatively simple agronomic or management practices which can help them cope with climate-induced stressors?