Abstract
BackgroundHunger and undernourishment are the main challenges of today’s world and 960 million people are hungry and undernourished. Food insecurity is an enduring, critical challenge in Ethiopia. Majority of the previous studies overlooked relevant determinant factors which affect the occurrence of food insecurity. This study aims to investigate household level food insecurity determinate factors and coping strategies used in the study area.MethodExplanatory and descriptive research was designed to assess household food insecurity and coping strategies in Analemmo district of southern Ethiopia. A multi-stage purposive sampling technique was used for the purpose of this study. Two hundred households were selected systematically following list of food insecure households. Econometric models were employed using binary logit model. Household calorie acquisition was calculated to categorize households into food secure and food insecurely status.ResultsThe survey result showed that 64% of the respondents were food insecure. Variables such as agro-ecology, age and education status, number of oxen, soil and water conservation, amount of credit, cultivated land size and receiving remittance were negatively but significantly (P < 0.05) affected households' food insecurity level. Female and young groups of the community were more food insecure as compared to others groups. The community was coping food shortage by relying on less preferred and less expensive food followed by participating in off-farm activities and borrowing food. Housesholds in the study area were utilizing less preferred foods to cope up food shortage and starvation.ConclusionEfforts of different developmental organizations should give due emphasis to household's wealth level, female-headed household and young and old-aged members of the community. Crop land production supported by modern agricultural technologies and information can reduce agricultural risks, and enhance productivity per unit land.
Highlights
Hunger and undernourishment are the main challenges of today’s world and 960 million people are hungry and undernourished
The study indicated that food secure HHs were involving less (17%) in soil and water conservation works as compared to food in secure (74%)
Marginal effect values for variables under study The present study indicated that agro-ecology, sex of HH head, age of HH head, educational status of HH head, number of oxen owned, soil and water conservation practices, availability of credit and remittance and size of cultivated land were showed a significant relationship with level of food insecurity at P ≤ 0.05; P ≤ 0.01
Summary
Hunger and undernourishment are the main challenges of today’s world and 960 million people are hungry and undernourished. This study aims to investigate household level food insecurity determinate factors and coping strategies used in the study area. The severity of the challenge is very high in developing and tropical countries [2]. The main cause of food shortage in Ethiopia is natural disaster, severe drought, flooding, insecurity, and conflict. These causes have been worsening and leading to Melese et al Agric & Food Secur (2021) 10:23 rapid and large-scale displacement along the borders of Somali, Oromia, and SNNPR [6]. Rural households (HHs) in Ethiopia have been using food insecurity coping strategies such as selling of live animals to purchasing food grain, borrowing, participate in off-farm activities, seeking relatives and friends support, change in feeding habit, food for work, reducing the amount to be consumed [9,10,11]. Others [8, 12, 13] have shown that inter-annual rainfall variability followed by extreme forage fluctuations can cause greater damage on the productivity of crops and livestock, and further increase livestock population die-off
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