Impact of Women Empowerment on Food Security among Rural Households in Kwara State, Nigeria

The study investigated the impact of women empowerment on food security in Kwara State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study assessed the levels of food security and women empowerment in the study area as well as examined the relationship between both. Also, constraints on women empowerment in the study area were identified. An interview schedule was used to elicit datafrom 150 rural households across ten communities in the State following a three-stage random sampling technique. Descriptive statistics, Likert scale, women empowerment index, food security index and the Pearson Product Moment Correlation were the analytical tools used. The study revealed that 52% of the households were food- secure. Only 5% of the women in the study area had empowerment index higher than 0.6, with most having least scores for psychological indicators of empowerment levels. A positive correlation (r=0.245) was observed at p 0.01 between the level of women empowerment and food security status. Poverty, cultural limitations and poor access to credit were the most severe constraints to women empowerment. It was concluded from the findings that women empowerment significantly increased the level of food security in the study area. The study, therefore, recommends a multidimensional approach to women empowerment as a medium of achieving the millennium development goal of food security.