Description
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COVER PAGE
TITLE PAGE
APPROVAL PAGE
DEDICATION
ACKNOWELDGEMENT
ABSTRACT
CHAPTER ONE
- INTRODUCTION
- BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
- PROBLEM STATEMENT
- STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES
- SCOPE OF THE STUDY
- PLAN OF STUDY
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
- INTRODUCTION
- TRANSPORTATION
2.2.1 Road
- FACTORS INFLUENCING CHOICE OF TRANSPORTATION MODE
- THE STATE OF ROAD TRANSPORTATION IN NIGERIA
- FACTORS MILITATING AGAINST EFFICIENT ROAD TRANSPORTATION IN NIGERIA
- HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF ROAD TRANSPORTATION IN NIGERIA
- MAJOR OPERATIONS PROBLEMS FACING RAILWAY DEVELOPMENT
- CONSEQUENCES OF FOOD INSECURITY
CHAPTER THREE
MATERIALS AND METHODS
- INTRODUCTION
- RESEARCH DESIGN
- POPULATION SAMPLING
- INSTRUMENTATION
- METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS
CHAPTER FOUR
- RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT OF ROAD TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE ON FOOD SECURITY
- CAUSALITY TEST
- INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS
CHAPTER FIVE
- SUMMARY
- CONCLUSION
- RECOMMENDATION
- REFERENCES
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Food is no doubt, the most basic human survival need in the world at large. Although, there have been many efforts to improve the quality as well as production of world food supplies, food insecurity remains prevalent. One of the greatest challenge the world is facing in recent times is the increasing lack of access to food and the escalation of hunger and poverty. Nigeria has been known as the most populous country in Sub-Saharan Africa and is estimated to be approximately one-fifth of the total population in the region. It is also a country fortunate to have both human and natural endowment and has the capacity to build a thriving economy and meet basic needs of all its citizens. However, Nigeria is still ranked among the poor and undernourished nations of the world. Additionally, the declining effect of poverty and hunger has rendered most of its masses without hope, more than 70% of disposable income of poor households are channeled to meeting food requirements for their family, yet not less than 31.5% of children below five years old are malnourished.
Food Security first started in the mid-1970s, at the World Food Conference (1974). At the conference it was defined in as the supply of food—“assuring the availability and price stability of basic foodstuffs at the international and national level”. Since the World Food Conference of 1974, the concept of food security has evolved into a generally agreed standard definition which was adopted during the World Food Summit in 1996. During the World Food Summit in 1996, it was agreed that food security “exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” Globally, food security is determined by some forces, like increasing population, existence of arable land, water, food production, climate change, accessibility and losses. Therefore, there have been attempts to establish the factors that determine household food security. This has brought us to the need for a clear understanding of the food system itself. The food system may constitute of components like the production, distribution and consumption of food.
Achieving a sustainable economic development in Nigeria and Africa will continue to be a mirage without well-nourished and healthy people and this leads to the major importance of food security. According to Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO (2015) they were findings, despite Nigeria having achieved the reduction of undernourishment of the people by more than half, from 19.3% in 1990 to 8.5% in 2010 to 2012, the amount of people who are undernourished in Nigeria increased from approximately 10 million to almost 13 million from 2010 to 2012. Additionally, there is regional, rural, urban, and cultural variation in food security across the nation. Food insecurity in Nigeria can also vary within the households and as direct function of intra-household characteristics, like household structure and decision-making processes.
Infrastructure is the key catalyst to agricultural development and growth, yet, they are insufficient in most area in Nigeria resulting in poor welfare and persistence of poverty in Nigeria local communities. Some studies have revealed that investing in infrastructure is essential to increase farmers’ access to input and output markets, it also will stimulate rural nonfarm economy and vitalize rural towns. According to findings it also increases consumers’ demand in rural areas and facilitates the integration of less favored rural areas into national and international economies.
Transport is seen as an important factor involved in agricultural development all over the world. It is the only means of moving food produced at farm site to different homes and markets. Transport creates market for agricultural produce. There are different types of infrastructure which are economic infrastructure, financial infrastructure, technological infrastructure, social infrastructure, agricultural infrastructure, etc. Among the infrastructures mentioned, transportation infrastructure plays a significant role especially in curbing food insecurity. Enhancing infrastructure leads to a closer relationship with the levels of agricultural development. This assumes importance because, the agricultural sector plays a huge role in reducing poverty and the growth of the agricultural sector and its components such as growth of agricultural output, income, employment, etc.
1.2 Statement of Problem
Hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition are major problems in Nigeria and the world at large. As at 2014, around 490 million people were undernourished in Asia and the Pacific (62 percent of the world’s total). Majority of people in developing countries depend on agriculture for their employment, income and livelihoods. Poorly nourished people are likely to lack the physical capacity to expand the agriculture production; poor households lack adequate income access to sufficient quantity and quality of diversified food to meet nutritional requirement. To achieve the goal of reducing hunger and malnutrition, it is well needed to coordinate and integrate agriculture and transportation. There is a need for better linkages between production, consumption and nutrition and transportation to tackle food insecurity and its causes. Recognizing the complex range of factors that contribute to hunger and malnutrition, recent reviews have also called attention to the need to focus on multi-sectoral approach to addressing malnutrition and to ensure that the agriculture production strategies lead to improving and strengthening transportation infrastructure.
Food insecurity is also being seen as a scourge that has greatly affected and is still currently affecting developing countries as well as Nigeria. Efforts on development are being hampered on because these countries cannot provide food security to the generality of the populace. The complex nature of achieving food security has resulted in most developing countries failing to deal with the issue. Digging to the roots of the issue of food security has lead to poor transportation infrastructure. Majorly in Nigeria there has been a great need to improve the transportation system which has and is currently affecting other sectors of the economy and likewise food security. Transportation issues, especially time and costs, makes it difficult for many Nigerians to access healthy food. Good access enables farm yields to rise and production costs to reduce by facilitating access to fertilizers, mechanized equipment and high-yield seed varieties, enabling supporting activities including labour, agricultural extension workers and veterinary services to have easy access to farms, therefore directly improving food security and reducing hunger. In the 1970s the investment in rural roads contributed to approximately 25% of agricultural produce growth in India and was responsible for the largest impact in poverty reduction.
1.3 Justification of the Study
Agro biodiversity offers huge potentials in addressing the problem of malnutrition and agricultural sustainability. Globally, approximately 30,000 edible plant species have been identified, of which more than 7,000 crop species have been used in the history of humanity for food. However, only 150 crop species are commercially cultivated and, of these, just 103 crops provide up to 90 percent of the calories in the human diet. Rice, wheat, maize and potato alone account for 60 percent of human energy supply. This to show that there is more than enough food available therefore the problem of food insecurity should never arise. But this study is has shown that food insecurity is way beyond food availability but there are other factors to consider, the major factor we looked into is transportation infrastructure.
1.4 Statement of Objectives
The main objective of this study is to ascertain the relationship between efficient transportation system and food security and to determine the impact of transportation on the availability of agricultural products. Specifically, it seeks to;
- investigate the conscious need for creation of basic infrastructure to support agriculture, production and nutrition.
- analyze transport infrastructure being basic distribution drives
- determine the effects of road transport infrastructure on agricultural sector development in Nigeria.
1.5 Scope of the Study
The purpose of this qualitative case study was to better understand the relationship between the investment in transportation infrastructure and food security in Nigeria. This research was intended to offer a better understanding of the impact of transportation infrastructure on food security, leading to economic growth, and provide useful and current information for Nigeria’s policymakers and leaders who are involved in transportation investment decisions.
1.6 Plan of the Study
This study will begin with a brief introduction into chapter one. This will consist of the background of the study, statement of the problem, justification of the research work, a statement of objectives, the scope and plan of the study. Chapter two contains the literature review. In it, there is a brief introduction to transportation infrastructure, how it affects food security and its concentration in Nigeria. Theories on food security are also explored.
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