FEAR OF CRIME AND FOOD SECURITY DYNAMICS

Food security remains one of the most urgent development challenges of the twenty-first century. The global food system is increasingly shaped by overlapping pressures, including climate variability, economic shocks, conflict, insecurity, supply-chain disruption and declining household purchasing power Gbadaamosi & Akanmu, 2023. The state of food security and nutrition in the world continues to emphasise that food security requires physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food at all times. This definition is important because it extends food security beyond production to include mobility, access, stability and social conditions that enable households to obtain food.

FEAR OF CRIME AND FOOD SECURITY DYNAMICS IN OKE-OGUN
RURAL-URBAN BORDER COMMUNITIES OF OYO STATE:
IMPLICATIONS FOR LIVELIHOODS AND SPATIAL RESILIENCE

OGUNDIRAN Olayinka Robert, PhD

Department of Urban and Regional Planning,
The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Nigeria

Email Address: or.ogundiran05@gmail.com

Abstract

Fear of crime is increasingly recognised as a development concern because it alters mobility, livelihood choices and access to productive resources. Yet its relationship with household food security remains under-examined in rural-urban border regions where farming, market exchange and territorial vulnerability intersect. This study examines the nexus between fear of crime and household food security among farming households in Oke Ogun, Oyo State, Nigeria. A mixed-methods cross-sectional design was adopted. Quantitative data were collected from 600 farming households selected through a multistage sampling procedure across the ten local government areas of Oke Ogun, while qualitative evidence was obtained from key informants and field observations. The questionnaire measured fear of crime, farming behaviour, household food security and coping strategies. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, multiple regression and spatial interpolation, while qualitative evidence was thematically analysed. Results show that fear of farm theft (78.5%), fear of night movement (73.1%), kidnapping (66.0%) and farm attack (62.3%) were widespread. Fear altered farming routines: 67.0% reduced weekly farm attendance, 64.0% reduced cultivated land and 58.0% avoided distant farmlands. Only 23.5% of households were food secure, while 76.5% experienced mild, moderate or severe food insecurity. Fear of crime was negatively and significantly associated with household food security (r = -0.63, p < 0.01), and regression results showed that fear remained a significant predictor of food security after controlling for income, education and farm size. The study argues that fear of crime is not only a security concern but also a food systems and spatial resilience issue. It recommends security-sensitive agricultural planning, protected farm-to-market corridors, gender-responsive market safety and stronger coordination between security, agricultural and planning institutions.

Keywords:

Fear of Crime; Food Security; Rural Livelihoods; Agricultural insecurity; Oke Ogun; Spatial Resilience; Nigeria