Examining Food Security as a Strategy for Poverty Alleviation in Nigeria

Nigeria faces a severe and multifaceted poverty crisis, with a significant portion of its population lacking access to basic necessities such as food, employment, healthcare, education, and clean water. The country's poverty rate has reached alarming proportions, positioning it among the world's most impoverished nations, despite its abundant human and natural resources. Hunger and famine are among the most severe manifestations of poverty in Nigeria, and while the government at various levels has implemented initiatives to ensure food security and lift millions out of poverty, the challenges of hunger and low living standards remain widespread throughout the nation. This paper examined the impact of food security on poverty alleviation in Nigeria utilizing annual data from 1990 to 2022. The paper employed the Autoregressive Distributed lag technique of analysis with the findings noting that agricultural output significantly (0.0447) and positively (19.409) affects poverty alleviation in the short run with the long-run impact being insignificantly positive (β=7.196; p=0.3857). Human development index insignificantly (0.2742; 0.7963) and positively (309.57; 179.78) impacts poverty alleviation in the short and long run in Nigeria. Gross national income per capita negatively (-47.99; -42.46) and insignificantly (0.1031; 0.4179) affected poverty alleviation in Nigeria in both periods. Inflation positively (0.14; 1.78) and insignificantly (0.1301; 0.0860) affected poverty alleviation in Nigeria. Labour participation rate significantly (0.0219) affected poverty alleviation in the short run positively (2.68) with such an impact being insignificantly positive (β=3.43; p=0.2811) in the long run. It is recommended that policymakers focus on improving agricultural productivity through irrigation supports and rendering agricultural extension services like training farmers on best agricultural practices. Ensuring equitable distribution of economic gains through facilitating the equitable distribution of agricultural productivity benefits to smallholder farmers and vulnerable populations by establishing cooperatives or farmer groups to strengthen their bargaining power and market access.