ASSESSEMENT OF YOUTH MIGRATION AND FOOD SECURITY AMONG FARMING HOUSEHOLDS

Food insecurity is fast becoming a key topic in economic growth and development. Hence, this study examined food security status before and after youth migration and assessed the effect of youth migration on food security among farming households. A two-stage sampling technique was employed to obtain data from 240 respondents. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, likert scale, food security index and binary logistic regression. The result revealed that most (86.3%) of the respondents were males with an average age of 48.5years. The reasons behind youth migration are poor roads, the search for white collar jobs and laborious nature of farming. Furthermore, the average yield before and after youth migration were 1879.8 kg/ha and 884.1kg/ha grain equivalent respectively. Moreover, 61.7% and 38.3% of the households were food secure and food insecure before youth migration respectively. Worst still, after youth migration, 70% of the households were food insecure while 30% were food secure. The ratio of rural youth migrants to household size, crop yield difference, level of education, household size, food crop losses, quantity of cereals consumed, quantity of legume consumed, quantity of root and tuber crops consumed and access to remittances were the variables explaining food security in the area. Governments at all levels should provide basic infrastructural facilities in the rural areas to encourage youth to stay at home. Youth should be enlightened on the negative consequences of migration. Policies towards reducing household size should be encouraged to raise food security of households