Assessing Food Insecurity and Its Drivers among Smallholder Farming Households in Rural Oyo State, Nigeria: The HFIAS Approach

Reviewer 1

Authors Responses to Reviewer 1

The authors did not explain very well the selection of variables to measure food insecurity. Why did they decide on such a set of drivers, what was the reason for the selection?

Thank you so much for this question. The brief explanation and justification for the inclusion of the selected explanatory variables in this study is now added in results and discussion section (3.1 with yellow colour). Also, Table 3 is primarily explaining the selected explanatory variables included in the study. Thank you.

The recommendations section proposes solutions in a very general way. The authors did not refer to all the important elements shaping food (in)security in the analysis. This part requires more detailed information and specific solutions.

The salient findings from the study are now included in forming parts of the recommendations of the study. This can be found in the conclusion and recommendations section with yellow colour. Thank you.

Reviewer 2

Authors’ Responses to Reviewer 2

I would recommend removing the Merriam Webster definition and rely more on the literature (your cited FAO definition, Pinstrup-Anderson, etc.)

Thank you for this suggestion. In my own opinion, I feel the definition by Merriam Webster dictionary sets a stage for the empirical definitions which immediately followed the dictionary definition of food security (already included). It dictionary definition also informs the first time the word “food security” was used in history which is important in discussing it. Thank you.

Streamline/condense the definition component of the introduction and add a more robust discussion to urban vs. rural food insecurity disparities across the globe and in Low-Middle Income Countries (there is a fairly decent sized literature base on this). 

This study has already added sizeable recent empirical discussion with most recent data and figures to support them. Since the focus of this study is not to compare food insecurity in urban and rural areas, too much emphasis on this may create a deviation from the main objective of this study. Thank you.

a.What proportion of the state of Oyo residents are farmers or involved with farming? That is still a little unclear and would be helpful to restate in section 2.1

The actual proportion of Oyo state residents that are farmers was not available in literature but it is a common knowledge that most rural dwellers are smallholder farmers especially in Sub-Saharan Africa which the literature supported. This study was carried out in rural Oyo state.

b. Dates of data collection

The date of data collection is now added in section 2.2. Thank you.

c. Consent process

This is already included in “Informed Consent Statement” section of this manuscript. Thank you.

d. Potential incentives/compensation to participants

This study did not promise the respondents any incentives or compensation.

e. Language it was administered

The questionnaire used for this study was administered in English Language but was interpreted in the native language (Yoruba) for the respondents. This is now added in section 2.2. Thank you.

f. If the various measures have been validated in Nigeria or in other settings 

Yes, It is already established in the latter part of the introduction (yellow colour) with quite a number of empirical studies in Nigeria and other parts of the world such as 33-35 references to support this assertion.

g. If study received ethics board approval

Yes, this stated in the “Institution Review Board Statement” section. Thank you.

Use full name of abbreviations in Table 2 (but that is more like a figure than a table)

Since the meaning of the acronyms for the food insecurity levels were previously given before Table 2. In my own opinion, It may not be necessary to add the full names again. Thank you.

At times the results section has components that are more appropriate for a discussion section. Please limit results to just findings, and add extrapolation or interpretation of data within the context (i.e., large household sizes and reduction of labor per person) to the discussion section instead. 

Thank you for this observation. The section is “Results and Discussion” and this gave the opportunity to report the results and equally present the discussion of such findings in the same section. Both results and discussion are contained in this section and not only results or discussion of results. Thank you.

Refer to questions by their theme/construct rather than number. 

The example of this was not given but, numbers was used for Tables and Figures included in this study. Thank you.

Choose between Figure 2 and Table 6 since they are presenting the same information 

Thank you for this important observation. This already done. The Figure 2 is retained while Table 6 is discarded. Thank you.

This section is currently missing and much of this information is mixed into the results.

Yes, it is true because there is no section for discussion only but rather “Results and Discussion”. Thank you.

a.Summary of study findings (this is where you can add context to what you presented in the results and compare to previous studies, etc.)

This already included in the “Results and Discussion”. Thank you.

b. There are numerous strengths to your study - create a section for that in the discussion

Thank you for this important observation. The strengths of the study was used in the discussion of the findings of this study and may not be necessary to repeat same in a separate section. Thank you.

c. Move "Study Limitations" to this section 

The "Study Limitations is already in the discussion section (at the tail-end of the discussion section). Thank you.

d. What do you believe are the implications of this work?

Implications of the study such as that of policy implications are already included in the recommendations. Presenting it in another section may amount to belabouring it. Thank you.

This level of summary for the conclusion is great!

Thank you so much.

What would be next steps for this work?

This study may be replicated in other states in South-West and also in other Geo-political zones of Nigeria. Thank you.