Exploring the Food Security Implications of the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme on Smallholder Farmers in Southeast Nigeria

International Journal Of Agricultural Science, Research And Technology In Extension And Education Systems,16(1),59 The purpose of the study was to explore the impact of the Anchor Borrowers’ Program (ABP) on the food security of smallholder farmers in Southeast, Nigeria. All ABP beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries constituted the population for the study. Multi-stage, simple random and proportionate sampling techniques were employed in selecting a representative sample size of 381 for the beneficiaries and 384 for the non-beneficiaries. Data were collected using a structured interview schedule and analysed using percentage, mean, t-test and multiple linear regression. The findings show that ABP beneficiaries had higher household meal frequency (x̄=2.79) compared to non-ABP beneficiaries (x̄ =2.43; t=8.49; p < 0.05), and exhibited lower food insecurity scores (x̄  = 8.60) compared to non-beneficiaries (x̄=11.88; t=-5.95; p<0.05), indicating better overall food security outcomes for beneficiaries. The study concluded that participation in the program marginally improved farmers’ livelihood outcomes by reducing food insecurity among beneficiaries. Hence, the Project Management Team should make efforts to increase the margin of impact by addressing any known bottleneck.