Abstract

The prevalence of food insecurity has been generally reported to be higher in the rural areas of Nigeria, despite the fact that the bulk of food production takes place there. This study used the Food Security Index (FSI) and Propensity Score Matching (PSM) to evaluate the impact of the United Nations Development Programmes’ (UNDP) micro credit scheme on the food security status of farm households in three Local Government Areas of Kaduna State, Nigeria. A purposive random sampling technique was used to select fifty six beneficiaries and one hundred and sixty six non-beneficiaries households. Primary data were generated from field interviews and used by structured questionnaires. Thirty nine percent of beneficiary’s households are food insecure with a Food Security Index of 1.83. The Propensity Score Matching showed that the UNDP micro credit scheme had no significant impact on the food security status of beneficiaries, while the calculated Average impact of treatment on the treated (ATT) was negative (-60.68), indicating that the UNDP micro credit scheme in the study area had not contributed significantly to the food security status of beneficiaries. Implications for policy were also discussed in this study.

Key words: Food security, micro-credit, United Nations Development Programmes’ (UNDP), rural household, propensity scoring matching.