Abstract
The study analyzed food security among rural farm households in Ini Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Specifically, respondents’ socio-economic characteristics, food security status, and determinants of household food security were analysed. Primary data used for the study were derived from a three-stage sampling survey of 200 randomly selected farming households in 8 farming communities. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Food security index, and the Logit model. The results for the socio-economic revealed that the majority (84.5%) of the household head were male and were aged between 30-40 years with a mean of 39.6 years. About 77.5% of the respondents were married and their household size stood at between 5-8 members with farming experience between 11-20 years. The mean per capita food expenditure per month was estimated to be N8,536.47 and the value was used as the food security index, and the majority (80%) of the households were food secure in the study area. The result further revealed that farm size, farming experience and monthly income of household heads were positively related to households’ food security status, while age and household size of households head were inversely related to food security status. Based on the findings, this research concludes that though the majority of the respondents (about 80%) were food secure, there is still a need for financial assistance to be made available for the 20% of farmers who were food insecure. Easy access to financial assistance will help them to purchase or rent land for farming and this will improve their income and food security status.