EFFECTS OF NATIONAL HOMEGROWN SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME ON FOOD VENDORS’ LIVELIHOOD STATUS IN CROSS RIVER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Government’s efforts to mitigate the rate of unemployment in Nigeria was among the considerations for the implementation of the school feeding programme (SFP). The population of the study comprised of food vendors of SFP who were the beneficiaries and street food vendors which constitute the non-beneficiaries of SFP. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 206 beneficiaries and 103 non-beneficiaries and the total respondents were 309. Data collected with questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages while, inferential statistics such as Chi-Square, Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) and t-test were used to test the variables in the hypotheses. Results showed that majority (60.7%) were female, married (41.3%), Christians (98.5%) with a mean age of 35±7.84. Many (57.8%) of the respondents had household size between 1–4 persons with a mean of 4. Majority (55%) had tertiary education with 78.1% earning between 10000–50000 monthly incomes. Bribery and corruption with a weighted score of 162.6 and delayed payment of allowance (160.2) were the major constraints faced in national homegrown school feeding programme (NHGSFP). There was a significant relationship between marital status and livelihood status level (χ² = 13.264, p = 0.004) and PPMC results showed a significant relationship between age (r = 0.181, p = 0.009), household size (r = 0.271, p = 0.000), monthly income (r = 0.315, p = 0.000) and livelihood status. Meanwhile, there was a significant association between beneficiary status and livelihood status, χ² (1, N = 309) = 56.97, p < 0.001. The study recommend that policymakers and programme implementers should consider targeted support and livelihoods-focused initiatives to enhance beneficiaries’ economic stability and well-being.