Participatory Assessment of Household Food Security and Nutrition

The aim of this study was to determined the correlation between rural household food insecurity and under-nutrition in children between 1-5 years old in Kusada L.G.A Katsina State, Nigeria because it was observed that the rural households are of the habit of consuming inadequate diet over the year round except on few occasions. Based on this premise, assessment of household food production; consumption and frequency of intake; determination of correlation between food insecurity and under-nutrition in children of 1-5 years old and determination of certain biochemical parameters were carried out in three wards: Bokosire, Dudunni Central and Bauranya B. 70% of the households were found to be food insecure; 24%(MUAC) and 36%(WFH) of the children suffered different forms of under-nutrition; there was a positive correlation of 0.99(P>0.01) between levels of household food insecurity and under-nourished children and the biochemical parameters tested were lowered significantly(p>0.05) in under-nourished children. This study could be used to develop programmes, in the rural communities, states and small countries, that would contribute to the promotion of food security and health.