ABSTRACT
The main objective of this study is to assess the food security status of University of Benin (UNIBEN) students. The specific objectives were to; describe the socio-economic characteristics of the students; ascertain the level of awareness of students on the subject of food insecurity; determine the level of food security among University of Benin students; examine the perception of students in alleviating food insecurity and identify the possible causes of food insecurity among University of Benin students.
A two-stage sampling technique was used in the selection respondents. The final stage involved a simple random sampling of one hundred and sixty (160) respondents from eight (8) faculties. Primary and secondary data was collected and analyzed for the study. Primary data collection was through the use of a structured questionnaire personally administered though field survey and interview. The level of food security was measured using the US Household Food Security Scale Module (HFSSM) while other data collected were measured and analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean, frequency, percentage and standard deviation. Multiple regression model was used to show relationship between variables.
Result in table 1 showed that majority (60.1%) ages of the sampled respondents was 21-25years, 6.1% had ages of 26-30 while 33.1% and 0.7% had ages below 20 years and above 31 years respectively with an average age of 21.74 years. majority (61.5%) of the respondents were female while 38.5% were male and all (100%) of sampled students were single (not married). 32.4% of the guardians/parents had occupation as businessmen/women while 27.0%, 22.3%, 14.25%, and 4.1% had occupation as artisans, civil servant, farming, and clergy. Majority (40.5%) of the students did not indicate their monthly allowance, however, from among those that indicated their monthly allowance, 37.2% had monthly allowance ≥ N15,000, 14.9% had monthly allowance of N10,000 - N15,000, 4.1% had a monthly allowance of N5,000 - N10,000 and 3.4% had a monthly allowance ≤ N5,000.
Regarding food consumption pattern, 3.38% of the sampled respondents ate at least once per day, 48.65% ate twice per day, 41.89% ate thrice per day and 6.08% ate more than thrice per day. On the level of food security awareness, 41.9% of the sampled respondents indicated that they have heard the term; food security, 69.6% indicated that they know the definition of food security, only 27% indicated they have heard of programme that address food security on campus. However, only 18.9% of respondents indicated they have seen food security campaigns on campus and 56.8% indicated they know persons who are affected by food insecurity while 52% indicated they have been affected by food insecurity themselves and 43.9% indicated they can safely say that they are food secure on campus. The level of food security was determined using the 10-item US household food security survey model (HFSSM), which showed that respondents were; worried whether food would run out before they could get money to get more food (mean = 3.22) and the food that was bought just didn’t last and respondents didn’t have money to get more (mean = 3.06). that two (2) out of the eleven (11) listed causes of food security were found to be serious causes and these are; low income among family (Mean = 3.02) and can’t cook (Mean = 20). Result of multiple regression showed that sex (t = -2.917) and family size (t = 2.915) were the identified socio-economic variables found significantly related to food security status of the students at 0.05% level of significance, it also shows that sex (b = -5.276) and family size (b = -0930) were the identified significant socioeconomic characteristics that influenced level of food security if the sampled students at 0.05 level of significance.
