Ogunniyi, Adebayo IsaiahOmotoso, Samuel OpeyemiSalman, Kabir KayodeOmotayo, Abiodun OlusolaOlagunju, Kehinde OluseyiAremu, Adeyemi Oladapo2021-03-262021-03-262020-01-20Ogunniyi, A. I., Omotoso, S. O., Salman, K. K., Omotayo, A. O., Olagunju, K. O. and Aremu, A. O. (2021) ‘Socio-economic Drivers of Food Security among Rural Households in Nigeria: Evidence from Smallholder Maize Farmers’, Social Indicators Research. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi: 10.1007/s11205-020-02590-71573-0921https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-020-02590-7Publication history: Accepted - 8 December 2020; Published online - 20 January 2021Issues relating to food availability, accessibility/afordability, and food utilization remain paramount among diferent stakeholders such as policymakers and academics. Using data from 250 maize farming households in Nigeria, the study used Foster–Greer–Thorbecke and probit regression model to investigate the factors determining households food security. The food insecurity measure shows that 23.2% points of the households express the incidence of food insecurity while 5.5% points and 1.8% points were found to have depth and severity of food insecurity, respectively. After controlling for households’ socio-economic and demographic characteristics, the probit regression model suggested that, among others, value of output sold, education, credit access and participation in government safety nets program signifcantly infuenced food security among the maize farmers in the study area. Based on our fndings, efort should be intensifed to enhance the productivity of land through improved production practices. There should be high-level awareness that will increase farmers’ participation in safety net programs. Thus, government at all levels (local, state, and federal) should have adequate budget allocation to this course in order to improve the livelihood outcomes of the farming households.enOpen Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.Food expenditureFood security driversFarming householdsNigeriaArticle