Abstract
This study investigates the role of adult education in fostering food security and agricultural productivity among rural communities in Ovia South West Local Government Area of Edo State. To enable the study to achieve its objectives, five (5) research questions were raised. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population is the entire household drawn from Twelve (12) wards. The population of the area is given to be One Hundred Thirty Five Thousand Three Hundred and Fifty Six (135,356) in Ovia South West local government are of Edo State, Nigeria from which a total of two hundred (260) respondents are selected to form the sample size for the study through purposive sampling techniques. A validated instrument titled: the “Role of Adult Education in Fostering Food Security and Agricultural Productivity among Rural Communities Questionnaire (RAEFFSAPRCQ),’’ with a reliability index of 0.85 determined through Person Product Moment Correlation Statistics. Collected data were analyzed using mean score standard, simple percentage and frequency count. Findings from the data revealed among others that the cause of food insecurity and poor agricultural productivity are; inefficient agricultural practices, violent conflicts between farmers and herdsmen, climate change, post-harvest lost, low budgetary allocation to agriculture, unavailability of disease resistance varieties and poor seed and seedlings as well as post-harvest lost due to bad roads and poor storage system. It was also revealed that adult education through it adult literacy and extension education programmes helps to ensure food security and agricultural productivity in the area by providing farmers access to farm inputs, credit facilities, relaying new innovation and modern farming techniques to farmers. Finally, it was recommended that farmers should be encouraged to participate in adult education scheme through the provision of incentives such as subsidized agricultural inputs and good market for agricultural produce through the scheme. DOI: https://doie.org/10.50390/NCAEJ.2026397246