Consumer Perception of Food Security during the Period of Covid19 Pandemic

Food security has become a challenge to already disadvantaged average Nigeria consumers as a result of sudden shocks occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic. This study therefore investigated consumers’ perception of food security during COVID-19 pandemic in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. In this study, 3 research objectives and research questions were used. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population comprised of consumers in 3 area councils (Gwagwalada, Bwari and Kuje) of the 6 area councils in the FCT. A total of 400 respondents were used as the sample size. Multistage sampling procedure was adopted for the study. A combination of stratified sampling and proportionate random sampling techniques were used. In the structured questionnaire titled “Consumers’ Perception of Food Security during COVID-19 Questionnaire” was used as instrument for data collection, and 11 items were used. Content validity was used. Test-retest method of reliability was used to obtain the internal consistency. The reliability index was obtained through Cronbach alpha (0.89). Out of the 400 questionnaires administered, 379 were returned valid, representing 95% success rate. Data collected was inputted into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 25) software package where descriptive statistics, in the form of tables were generated. The study found among others that: only 16.6% of consumers in the FCT received food palliatives from government during the COVID-19 lockdown, consumers were not satisfied with the high prices of food stuffs in the markets, there is food security problem in Nigeria and government is unserious on ensuring affordability of food for low income consumers. This study recommends that the organized private sector and government should invest heavily in mechanized agriculture, Federal and State Governments should create Ranches and Grazing Reserves for herdsmen, the Federal Government should create Grazing Reserves in the Sambisa Forest and link this to Cattle Markets across the federation, the Federal Government should open the land borders to allow food importation to reduce current high prices of foodstuff. Keywords: Consumers: Food Security: COVID-19 Pandemic: Cattle Ranching: Grazing Reserves: Nigeria.