This study identified constraints militating against the attainment of household food security
among three ethnic groups in North Central Nigeria in 2011. A sample of 340 households was
interviewed using structured questionnaires. Factor analysis was used to isolate and name the
critical factors influencing the attainment of household food security in the region. Findings
revealed that economic, governance, institutional and technological constraints hindered the
achievement of household food security in the study area. While the economic factors included
climatic change and variability (0.57), shortage of farm labour (0.55), limited access to farm land
(0.57); the institutional factors were poor market access (0.56), weak support services (0.48),
poor nutrition education (0.48) and poor sanitation (0.44). The governance factors included
political problems (0.51), rapid population growth rate (0.43) and low crop yield (0.43) while the
technological factors were lack of access to clean water (0.43), inadequacy and lack of access to
improved agricultural inputs (0.42) and lack of access to labour saving devices (0.41). Attaining
household food security in North Central Nigeria is still a mirage. Therefore, governments at the
local and state levels should design and implement short term and long term programmes in
agriculture value chain to boost food production and productivity and enhance family income for
improved household food security.