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Assessment of Household Perceptions on Land Accessibility for Food Security: Evidence from Greater Port Harcourt Region in Rivers State, Nigeria
Subject area: Physical Sciences and Environment · Area of research: Urban and Regional Planning
DOI: 10.64388/IREV10I4-1723645
Abstract
Land remains a key asset in smallholder agriculture, and is expected to play a critical role to food security. The objective of this study was to explore the household’s perception on land accessibility mechanisms for food security in Greater Port Harcourt Region. A survey was conducted among 398 households selected randomly across the region. Data were collected on the household’s perception on land access for food security and analysed using Version 22 of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The results revealed that respondents generally perceived land for agricultural purposes as accessible since 65.6% rated agricultural land as accessible or very accessible, whereas 16.0% rated it as inaccessible or very inaccessible and 18.3% reported a neutral position. High land cost emerged as one of the most prominent limitations with a combined 57.3%, insecurity and land conflict were also another important, with a total of 46.7%. The land policy, land tenure, weak land administration, government acquisition and poor infrastructure were largely not perceived as major limitations by most of the respondents. Gender bias and poor infrastructure were not perceived as major limitation to land accessibility. The lack of access to credit facility was identified as a major limitation, demonstrating that financial access influences the ability of some households to acquire and utilize agricultural land. The overall results imply that enhancing household food security needs not only increasing land availability but also enhancing land affordability, household financial capacity, security of farming environments and productive use of accessible land.
Keywords
Land, access, Food Security, Household, Greater Port Harcourt
How to cite this paper
@article{1723645,
author = {Gbarabe, F. Onubulachi, Ibama Brown, Evangeline N. Anthony Le-ol, Eyenghe Tari},
title = {Assessment of Household Perceptions on Land Accessibility for Food Security: Evidence from Greater Port Harcourt Region in Rivers State, Nigeria},
journal = {Iconic Research And Engineering Journals},
year = {2026},
volume = {10},
number = {4},
pages = {260-280},
issn = {2456-8880},
url = {https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1723645.pdf},
abstract = {Land remains a key asset in smallholder agriculture, and is expected to play a critical role to food security. The objective of this study was to explore the household’s perception on land accessibility mechanisms for food security in Greater Port Harcourt Region. A survey was conducted among 398 households selected randomly across the region. Data were collected on the household’s perception on land access for food security and analysed using Version 22 of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The results revealed that respondents generally perceived land for agricultural purposes as accessible since 65.6% rated agricultural land as accessible or very accessible, whereas 16.0% rated it as inaccessible or very inaccessible and 18.3% reported a neutral position. High land cost emerged as one of the most prominent limitations with a combined 57.3%, insecurity and land conflict were also another important, with a total of 46.7%. The land policy, land tenure, weak land administration, government acquisition and poor infrastructure were largely not perceived as major limitations by most of the respondents. Gender bias and poor infrastructure were not perceived as major limitation to land accessibility. The lack of access to credit facility was identified as a major limitation, demonstrating that financial access influences the ability of some households to acquire and utilize agricultural land. The overall results imply that enhancing household food security needs not only increasing land availability but also enhancing land affordability, household financial capacity, security of farming environments and productive use of accessible land.},
keywords = {Land, access, Food Security, Household, Greater Port Harcourt},
month = {October},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV10I4-1723645}
}