Economics of farming household's food intake and health-capital in Nigeria: a two-stage probit regression approach

Abstract

Persistent hunger, malnutrition, and public health problems inextricably threaten the ability of several countries to develop. The burdens of these trios on economic development in African continent cannot be overemphasized. This study investigates the effect of farming households’ nutrition on health in the Southwest Nigeria. The data used were collected with structured questionnaire through a multistage sampling of 420 agricultural households from the southwest geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistic and Probit regression and Two-Stage Probit regression (2SPR).About 42.38% of the respondents eat ≤ 3 types of food, 50.71% eat 4-6 food, 5.71% took 6-9 food while 1.19% eat within 9-12 food types within the qualitative 24hours recall period of food consumed. In addition, average body mass indices of 25.63 kg/m² ±2.67 (overweight), 26.42 kg/m² ± 2.76 (overweight) and 26.22 kg/m² ± 3.2 (overweight) were recorded in Oyo, Ogun and Osun states respectively. Also, Two-Stage Probit Regression estimate was used to determine the effect of respondents’ nutrition on health status. Result shows that respondents’ nutrition status.