Defining food security in terms of availability and access to sufficient food to meet dietary needs for a productive and healthy life, this paper assessed the effects of property rights to land on household food security in the Savanna zone of northern Nigeria. The paper analyzed household expenditure profile, examined households’ tenure and land use factors, determined the effect of these factors on household food security status, and predicted/classified households into food security groups based on these factors. Primary data were generated from a cross-section of 180 farming households during the 2006/2007 production season. Data were collected on tenure and land use characteristics, input-output relationships, cropping patterns, land improvement techniques, and on household expenditure and income. The results of the study showed that the customary tenure arrangement is the most important way by which farm households gain access and manage land in the zone. On the average, households cultivated less than two hectares of land with less than two years of fallow. Inorganic fertilizer was the most commonly used land improvement technique by all households, but at rates below recommended dosage due to scarcity and high cost. The papers ends by recommending that meaningful land intensification through proper management and effective extension service is the likely development pathway in the study area. In addition, the classification of households can support policy making strategies that target specific groups for government and non-government programme implementation