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Nigeria had over the years embarked on several agric-food intervention strategies either as a sole financier or jointly in partnership with other development agencies with the ultimate aim of the attainment of food and nutritional security. However, recent estimates of the

number of food  insecure mouths in  the  country and  the  staggering amount of foreign  exchange in favor  of food  importation indicate that the  country may  not  be food  self  sufficient. This calls for assessing the contributions of intervention strategies employed in the agricultural sector for food security.

Purpose: This study examined the contributions of the National Special Program for Food Security (NSPFS) to beneficiary food security by making use of the Household Dietary Diversity (HDD) score.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The study was conducted in Kwara State and respondents comprised of crop farmer beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries, drawn probabilistically from the three NSPFS project sites in the study area.  The Poisson model was used to analyze the study’s objective.

Findings:  Findings reveal a significant difference between the HDD of the beneficiary and non- beneficiary farming households (p=0.01). Identified significant variables responsible for the variation in HDD included NSPFS participation (p=0.01), household size (p=0.078) and household annual income (P=0.013).

Research Limitations: The use of the HDD as a measure of food security has limitations. Season and the festivities may predispose respondents to consuming more at a particular time which may not reflect the spread of consumption over the entire year.  In order  to reduce  this  limitation associated with the use of dietary diversity as a food security measurement, the questionnaire was administered to the  respondents’ households before  the  start of the  planting season and  when no festivals and socio-cultural celebrations were going on.

Practical Implications: Given the global commitment to food security, this study recommends the intensification of the NSPFS project to cover more sites and include more beneficiaries. Furthermore, it suggests that appropriate logistics and support be provided that will facilitate the assessment of the project’s incentives by beneficiaries.

Originality/Value: This study is an original contribution.

Keywords

Dietary Diversity, Food Security, NSPFS, Kwara State.

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