Impact of Population Growth on Food Security in Nigeria
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain the relationship between population growth and food security in Nigeria
- To find out the causes of food insecurity in Nigeria
- To ascertain the causes of fast growing of Nigeria population
- To find out government contribution toward fast growing of Nigeria pollution
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Population, Population Growth and Population Growth Rate
The word population according to American Heritage Dictionary (undated) referred to the total number of inhabitants constituting a particular race, class or group in a specified area. Similarly, Wikipedia (undated) looked at population as all the organisms of the same group or species that live in the same geographical area and are capable of interbreeding, borrowing the term used in sociology, referred to a collection of human beings in a particular place. Gee (1999) define Population growth as the change in the size of population, depending on the balance of birth and death, which are measured both in absolute and relative terms. Population growth rate according to Mundi Index (2012), is the average annual percentage change in population, which is affected by birth and death as well as the balance of the number of people that are coming and leaving a particular country within a specified period of time. The global population growth rate for the period of 2000, 2001, and 2002 were 1.30%, 1.25%, and 1.23% respectively. On average the world population growth rate between 2000 and 2012 stood at 1.17%, this mean the total human beings inhabiting this planet are increasing by 1.17% yearly. In Sub Saharan Africa it was reported that in every four persons, one lack adequate food for a healthy and active life and this cannot be devoid from rapid population growth for example; Zimbabwe (4.36), Niger (3.63), Uganda (3.58) and Ethiopia (3.18) occupying the second, third, fourth and fifth positions in the ranking of countries with the highest population growth rate (Bremner, 2012). To show the intense nature of food crisis in this region, Abu (2012,32) argued that out of 1 billion people worldwide suffering from food deficiencies and other related diseases, a substantial number is from Africa and these numbers may tends to increase further, example with 45 million people in South Africa about 14 million people, equivalent to 31% are vulnerable to food insecurity. A comparative analysis between Nigeria, India, and United State of America provides a varying degree in terms of population growth rate. What causes this growth is an intellectual discussion that took time among intellectual community. The current estimate of world population is getting nearer to 7 billion, with China having a total population of 1,330,045,000 billion people as at 2008, India followed the second with 1,205,074,000 billion people and united State of America occupied the third position of a total population of 313,847,500 as at 2012. In Africa the highest populated country is Nigeria and it was rated to be occupying the ninth position with an estimated population of 170,074,000 million people (Mundi index, 2012).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to impact of population growth on food security in Nigeria
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
Primary source and Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain impact of population growth on food security in Nigeria. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of population growth on food security in Nigeria
Summary
This study was on impact of population growth on food security in Nigeria. Three objectives were raised which included: To ascertain the relationship between population growth and food security in Nigeria, to find out the causes of food insecurity in Nigeria, to ascertain the causes of fast growing of Nigeria population, to find out government contribution toward fast growing of Nigeria pollution. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of ministry of finance, Abia state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made directors, agronomists, senior staff and junior staff were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
From the analysis using relevant data, the study noted that, Nigeria is witnessing population expulsion, where population moves substantially. Some of the factors identified includes; early marriage, poverty and illiteracy, religious beliefs, improved sanitary condition, availability of medical facilities and low mortality rate. The study also learnt that food production within the period of study increased at marginal level, this is why people are vulnerable to hunger as well as hunger related diseases. The study concludes that population expulsion due to in efficiencies in agricultural sector out run food supply, Nigeria therefore is in full spank of food insecurity.
Recommendation
The study recommended the followings.
- Government should address and check population expulsion, through; birth control, educating the populace, as well as restricting the number of immigrants from neighboring countries.
- The government should consider pumping more funds to agricultural sector, in its statutory allocation, by so doing the sector will have enough to put into use in achieving its primary objectives.
- Agricultural credit guarantee scheme should be used judiciously, real farmers are to be the beneficiaries and the disbursement should be made at an appropriate time.
- The government should establish price control board, to check the excessive hike in the prices of food stuffs in the markets.
REFERENCES
- Abdulrahaman, Salmanulfarisi (2013) Expenditure on Agricultural Sector and Food Security in Nigeria International Journal of Social Science Tomorrow, Vol. 2 (1) pp 1-6.
- Abu, Orefe (2012) Food Security in Nigeria and South Africa. J Hum Ecol volume 38 (1) pp132-150
- Adebayo, A.A (2010) Food Security Status in Nigeria: Pre and Post Deregulation Review. International Journal of Economic Development Research and Investment. Vol. 1 (1) pp 132-150
- Adeniyi, Ijaiya Muftau; AbdulRasheed, Abdulrahaman. and Bello, Abdullahi Ibrahim (2009) Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme and Food Security in Nigeria. Journal of International Economic Review. Vol. 2 (1-2) pp167-176.
- Adetiloye, Kehinde Adekunle (2012) Agricultural Financing in Nigeria: An Assessment of the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme in Nigeria(1978-2006) J Economics, Vol. 3 (1) pp 39-48
- Agriculture in Nigeria (2011) State of Food Security in Nigeria. Retrieved on 2nd October, 2011 from http://aricultureinnigeria.blogspot.com/2011/04/state-of-food-security-innigeria.html Time 5:25pm American Heritage Dictionary (undated) Population Retrieved on 19th January, 2013, from http://www.education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/population. Time 3:00pm
- Bremner, J. (2012) Population and Food Security: Africa’s Challenge, Policy Brief, Population Reference
- Bureu Chavis, Janson (2010) Factors that causes Population Growth. Retrieved on 19th January, 2013, from http://www.ehow.com/about_4780514_factors-that-cause-population-growth.html. Time 9:30 am
