Impact of Rural Finance Institution Building Programme on Food Security Status: A Comparative Study between Beneficiaries and Non-beneficiaries in Anambra State

Comparative study on the impact of Rural Finance Institution Building Programme (RUFIN) on the food security status of the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries was conducted in Anambra State, Nigeria. The study employed multistage, purposive and snowball sampling techniques to select 120 households (60 beneficiaries and 60 non-beneficiaries). Data were collected using structured interview schedule. To determine the food security status of the RUFIN beneficiaries (RB) and non-beneficiaries (NRB), food security survey module was adopted. Descriptive statistics, t-test and factor analysis were used for data analysis. About 43% of RB and 22% of NRB were food secured. No significant (p>0.05) difference was seen between the two groups in the number of times households feed in a day (t = 0.00) with food insecurity score of t = -1.53. Conclusively, beneficiaries were more food secured than the non-beneficiaries but the marginal difference is not so substantial when viewed in the lens of the programme intention. Therefore, the volume of loanable amount and payback period should be increased by RUFIN to allow for meaningful agricultural investment which will in a long run, positively affect the food security status of the beneficiaries