Rural Households’ Perception on Protein Food Consumption Pattern of School-Aged Children (6-11 Years) in Katsina State

In Nigeria, most rural households tend to adhere to the old and improper food eating patterns. This seemed more evident in the protein food consumption pattern (PFCP) which could be attributed to unverified wrong PFCP ideologies and cultures among distinctive ethnic groups. Consequently, the study investigated PFCP of school-aged children from rural households in Katsina State. A sample of 288 rural households was selected through the multistage sampling procedure from all Katsina rural households. Descriptive survey design and structured questionnaire were adopted in collecting data on households’ socioeconomic characteristics, protein food awareness, PFCP, perception and constraint. Frequency counts, percentages, means, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and multiple regression analysis were employed in data analysis. The result revealed that most respondents were young, married, low income earners, Muslims, and farmers with Quaranic educational qualification. Levels of awareness and information were high and low respectively. While the pattern of consumption was inadequate, perception and constraint levels were unfavourable and high respectively. The ANOVA result showed that Katsina Central (KC) has significantly higher protein consumption than Katsina North (KN) and Katsina South (KS) just as KN had the highest awareness compared to KC and KS. Significant differences existed in PFCP KC, KN and KS. Age, marital status, income, awareness, perception, information and constraint were determinants of PFCP. The PFCP was inadequate with an unfavourable level of perception. While government and non-governmental agencies should explore the scaling up option of information sources other than radio, health workers and friends, households’ income diversification is germane for better PFCP.