HOUSEHOLD FOOD CONSUMPTION PATTERNS AND DIETARY HABITS IN OKE-ELA ILARO CDA DURING COVID 19 PANDEMIC AND 2020 LOCKDOWN

Abstract

Covid 19 pandemic and 2020 lockdown brought shift in household food consumption as many household could not take three squared meal daily during the period, due to considerable hike in prices of food commodities by those rendering essential services. This study was carried out to determine the dietary habit and food consumption pattern of households in selected CDAs in Oke Ela, Ilaro during year 2020 lockdown. Yewa South Local Government has twelve Communities. Ela-Adesegun being one of the twelve was purposefully selected for the study. Fifteen government recognized (1/3) CDAs was randomly selected and a well-structured questionnaire was administered on one hundred and fifty household heads. A checklist of food items was used by the researchers to help respondents recall the names and types of food consumed. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 23.0. Result revealed that majority of households do not consume their usual meal during lockdown as most (55%) of household heads eats twice daily because the available resources (63%) which are fixed for each household cannot sustain the hike in the prices of food commodities. However, Ramadan fast (25%) prevented some households from eating trice daily. This study concludes that border closure cum covid -19 pandemic lockdown led to significant hike in prices of food commodities which was beyond family budget resulting in a greater tendency to consume unbalanced diet and in particular low intake of fruits and vegetables.