Reducing the proportion of chronically undernourished people by half by 2015 is part of the Millennium Development Goals. Although, the percentage of hungry people in the world has fallen between 1981 and 2001, 852 million people worldwide are still chronically undernourished. To achieve the Millennium Development Goals of halving the proportion of hungry people by 2015, it was projected that 22 million people must achieve food security every year. In consonance of the above, this study examined the factors influencing the food security status of rural farming households in Kwara State of Nigeria. The study utilized a three-stage random sampling technique to obtain a sample of 94 farm households and a cross sectional data in year 2005. Using the calorie intake approach; we found that 36 and 64% of the households were food secure and food insecure, respectively. The food insecurity gap showed that the food insecure households fell short of the recommended calorie intake by 38%, while the food secure households exceeded the recommended calorie intake by 42%. A logistic regression model made up of eight explanatory variables was specified. Total annual income, household size, educational status of household’s head and quantity of food obtained from own production were found to determine the food security status of farming households in the study area. It is concluded that the design of food security strategies should be multi-dimensional such that would focus on and address the identified determinants in order to achieve the target set by the Millennium Development Goals.
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