Propensity Score post-estimation result.

The Nigerian government introduced the Household Upliftment Program (HUP) which is a conditional cash transfer scheme to help households improve consumption levels, reduce poverty and therefore prevent vulnerable households from becoming poorer. This paper investigated the impact of Condition Cash Transfer of HUP on household food security in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The objectives were to assess the impact of CCT on protecting the beneficiary’s basic level of food consumption from becoming food insecure and also determine if CCT of HUP facilitate the beneficiary to invest in human and other productive assets. The paper utilized descriptive statistics, food security index, Likert scale and propensity score technique to analyse the research objectives. The findings showed that on average, benefitting and non-benefitting households spent about N31,917.78 ($76.46) and N34,898.67 ($83.60) respectively on food per month. Food insecurity was higher among benefiting households compared to non-benefiting households. The Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATET) estimator value was −0.2610. The negative value suggests that, on average, benefiting households spend 26.10% less on food consumption than non-benefitting households. The results imply that the current cash transfer program may not be effectively addressing food insecurity among beneficiaries. However, the CCT program facilitated the beneficiaries’ ability to invest in human and productive assets, enhanced their financial and social inclusion, opened doors to financial services previously inaccessible to many and fostered a sense of community among them. The paper concludes that while conditional cash transfer programs have the potential to positively impact beneficiaries, the government must reassess and potentially adjust the program to better address the current inflationary pressures and ensure its positive impact on the food security of the beneficiaries.

尼日利亚政府推出了家庭振兴计划（Household Upliftment Program, HUP），这是一项有条件现金转移支付（Conditional Cash Transfer, 下文简称CCT）计划，旨在帮助家庭提升消费水平、缓解贫困，进而防止脆弱家庭陷入更深的贫困状态。本文针对尼日利亚阿克瓦伊博姆州的HUP之CCT计划对家庭粮食安全的影响展开了实证调研。研究目标分为两点：一是评估CCT对保护受助家庭基本粮食消费水平、避免其陷入粮食不安全状态的作用；二是探究HUP的CCT是否能够助力受助家庭投资人力资本及其他生产性资产。本文采用描述性统计方法、粮食安全指数、李克特（Likert）量表以及倾向得分匹配技术，对上述研究目标进行分析。研究结果显示，受助家庭与非受助家庭的月度食品支出平均分别约为31917.78奈拉（76.46美元）与34898.67奈拉（83.60美元）。相较于非受助家庭，受助家庭的粮食不安全状况更为严重。平均干预处理效应（Average Treatment Effect on the Treated, ATET）的估计值为-0.2610，该负值表明，平均而言受助家庭的食品消费支出较非受助家庭低26.10%。上述结果意味着，当前的现金转移支付计划或未能有效解决受助群体的粮食不安全问题。不过，CCT计划确实提升了受助家庭投资人力资本与生产性资产的能力，增强了其金融与社会包容性，为众多此前难以获取相关金融服务的受助家庭开辟了渠道，并增进了受助群体间的社区归属感。本文最后得出结论：尽管有条件现金转移支付计划具备为受助群体带来积极影响的潜力，但尼日利亚政府需重新审视并酌情调整该计划，以更好地应对当前的通胀压力，确保该计划能够切实提升受助家庭的粮食安全水平。