The conditional effect of influx of internally displaced persons on food security in host communities

We examine the effect of the influx of internally displaced persons (IDP) on food security in host communities in Nigeria between 2010 and 2018. The influx is measured at the level of the Local Government Area (LGA); the dependent variable is the Food Consumption Score (FCS) at the household level, which approximates nutrient and calorie adequacy. Linear regression models show that the food security decreases as the number of IDPs increases. This effect is robust against adding established determinants of food security as control variables, using fixed effects for household and survey year, and adding interaction effects controlling for LGA specific time trends. These results remain consistent when the IDP influx is instrumented using the spatially weighted outflows of IDPs from other LGAs (receptivity measure). Differentiating between the different causes for displacement reveals that the effect is conditioned by the cause of displacement. Food security decreases as a result of influxes caused by insurgency, but not by communal clashes or natural disasters. Responses to communal clashes and natural disasters are more immediate than conflict-induced responses (those caused by insurgency), which represent the most visible and frequent shock and the one policymakers appear to be most concerned with.