Impact of Productive Safety Net Program on Household Food Security in Kenna District, Konso Zone, Southern Ethiopia

The Ethiopian government launched a new social protection program called the Productive Safety Net Program since Poverty and chronic food insecurity have been the main challenges for most of the rural households of the country. The major objective of this study was to examine the impact of PSNP on household food security. The study was conducted in Kutaber district, Amhara National regional state, Ethiopia. A Multistage stage sampling procedure was used to randomly select 116 representative household heads. Both the primary and secondary data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and econometric tools. The propensity score matching (PSM) technique of impact evaluation preferred to overcome the counterfactual problem and selection bias. Participation model result of Estimated Propensity Score showed that among 11 explanatory variables included in the logistic model, 4 of them were significant. The result indicated that the program participation of the households in the area significantly influenced by farmland size, an income of off/non-farm activities, distance to the nearest market center and distance to the nearest agricultural extension office. The program intervention has resulted in a positive and statically significant mean difference between the two groups in terms of the outcomes variables of daily calorie intake and farm and household material. Applying a propensity score matching technique for the study found that the program has increased participating households’ calorie intake and household material by 233.04 calories and 2551.65 ETB, respectively compared to that of non-participating households. The analysis result revealed that the food security of the household has been improved by productive safety net program intervention in the study area. The multiple linear regression model estimated results revealed that the impact of the program on calorie intake was not uniform across the participating households. Therefore, the program should consider the roles of significant variables in the selection of participant households for the desired impact under related locations.

Impact of Ethiopia's productive safety net program on household food security and child nutrition: A marginal structural modeling approach.

Ethiopia’s productive safety net program (PSNP) is aimed at providing transfers to the food insecure people in chronically food-insecure woredas. The program’s objectives include improving food security, protecting assets, and strengthening household and community resilience to shocks. This study evaluates the impact of PSNP on the beneficiary households’ food security, income, and asset holdings in the Gedeo administrative zone of Southern Ethiopia. We use survey data from 395 randomly selected households, out of which 195 are beneficiaries and 197 non-beneficiaries. Methodologically, we employ the propensity score matching (PSM) method to assess the impact of the PSNP on the welfare of beneficiary households. For this purpose, we use two specific outcomes of the PSNP: food security and asset holdings of participating households. Using the propensity score matching method, we find that the PSNP enhances the consumption expenditure, daily calorie intake, and annual income of participating households relative to a similar group of non-participating poor households. Our findings suggest that the PSNP is vital to improving income and food security at the household level in chronically food-insecure areas.

This article reviews the empirical literature on the impact of the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) on different welfare outcomes of rural households in Ethiopia. The main finding of the review is that the PSNP had in general positive impacts on some attributes. PSNP has been found to have positive impacts on the food security of households, increasing crop yield and households’ income. It has also been found to impact welfare in the form of improved health and school attendance, higher rates of insurance uptake, and improved cognitive skills in children. However, there is scant evidence on how much PSNP has protected or mitigated the possible deterioration in the purchasing power of beneficiaries after shocks such as drought and food price spikes. There is one exception to this literature gap, which showed that PSNP had a role in mitigating the adverse impact of inflation on the cognitive skills of children. In the face of declining land to labour ratio, increasing population, changing climate and environmental challenges, an important issue that needs to be addressed through research is the impact of PSNP on the longer-term perspective of agricultural transformation in Ethiopia. Furthermore, an implicit assumption in almost all major studies in the country in relation to social protection interventions such as PSNP is that, rural agricultural households can make a better livelihood within the framework of agriculture. A process of rural transformation requires engagement of households in side-line activities such as cottage industry, small scale manufacturing and services activities. Investigating the role of PSNP in this regard might be useful.

From various Ethiopian government food security strategies, the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) is one of the strategies to improve households' consumption. As a result, the government needs to know the outcome of the program intervention for further decisions in similar poverty reduction strategies. This study examined the impact of Productive Safety Net Program intervention on food security of rural households in rural western Ethiopia. A cross-sectional survey data were gathered from a total of randomly selected 188 beneficiary and non-beneficiary sample households. Key informants interviews and focus group discussions were employed to triangulate household survey results. A Chi-square test was employed to compare the households' food security status. The propensity score matching method was used to evaluate the impact of a Productive safety net on beneficiary households' food security status. In this study, the Productive Safety net program has significantly increased households' calorie intake. The beneficiaries' households were more food secure than non-beneficiary households by 68% and54% respectively. The mean energy available for the beneficiary and non-beneficiary households is 2488.500 and 2153.394 kcal, respectively. Estimates of the average treatment effect of the treated indicated that a Productive safety net program can impact households food security by 2519.29348 kilocalories, higher in the kernel matching method. This is an encouraging indicator for Programme implementers and funding agents. Therefore, channeling further efforts on this indicator is important for a more pronounced impact of the Programme. Given a certain level of variations of different program impact studies, this study recommends further research with greater scope and at different locations on the impact of PSNP and related Food Security Programs on households' food security status.

From various Ethiopian government food security strategies, the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) is one of the strategies to improve households’ consumption. As a result, the government needs to know the outcome of the program intervention for further decisions in similar poverty reduction strategies. This study examined the impact of Productive Safety Net Program intervention on food security of rural households in rural western Ethiopia. A cross-sectional survey data were gathered from a total of randomly selected 188 beneficiary and non-beneficiary sample households. Key informants interviews and focus group discussions were employed to triangulate household survey results. A Chi-square test was employed to compare the households’ food security status. The propensity score matching method was used to evaluate the impact of a Productive safety net on beneficiary households’ food security status. In this study, the Productive Safety net program has significantly increased households’ calorie intake. The beneficiaries’ households were more food secure than non-beneficiary households by 68% and54% respectively. The mean energy available for the beneficiary and non-beneficiary households is 2488.500 and 2153.394 kcal, respectively. Estimates of the average treatment effect of the treated indicated that a Productive safety net program can impact households food security by 2519.29348 kilocalories, higher in the kernel matching method. This is an encouraging indicator for Programme implementers and funding agents. Therefore, channeling further efforts on this indicator is important for a more pronounced impact of the Programme. Given a certain level of variations of different program impact studies, this study recommends further research with greater scope and at different locations on the impact of PSNP and related Food Security Programs on households’ food security status.

Household food insecurity is a major public health problem in Ethiopia despite the presence of various interventions implemented by the government. However, there is a dearth of evidence regarding the prevalence and responsible factors in Ethiopia, specifically in the South Ari district. This study, therefore, aimed to assess household food insecurity and associated factors in South Ari district, Southern Ethiopia. A community-based cross-sectional study was employed from March 11 to April 11, 2021, at South Ari district, Southern Ethiopia. A two-stage sampling technique was used to draw a sample of 717 households. Data were checked and entered into Epi-Data V3.2., and exported to SPSS V25.0 for data exploration and analysis. Variables with a p-value <0.25 in bivariable logistic regression were candidates for multivariable logistic regression. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was fitted to determine factors associated with household food insecurity. Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit statistic was used to check model fitness and was satisfied. Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to determine the strength of association. P-value <0.05 was used to declare statistical significance. The prevalence of household food insecurity was 44.8% (95% CI: 41.1%, 48.5%). Larger family size (8 and above) (AOR = 1.91, 95% CI: 1.10, 3.30), high dependency ratio (AOR = 2.71, 95% CI: 1.67, 4.40), medium dependency ratio (AOR = 1.72, 95% CI: 1.13, 2.62), poor wealth index (AOR = 2.30, 95% CI: 1.53, 3.46), not using agricultural extension service (AOR = 2.25, 95% CI: 1.57, 3.23), and non-beneficiary of productive safety net program (AOR = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.01, 2.87) were factors significantly associated with household food insecurity. The findings of this study showed a significant proportion of households were food insecure in South Ari District. Larger family size, high and medium dependency ratio, poor wealth index, not using agricultural extension service, and non-beneficiary of productive safety net program were significant risk factors associated with household food insecurity. Therefore, rigorous work is highly needed to enhance income-generating activities, strengthen agricultural productivity, expand the productive safety net program, and limit population pressure through improved family planning use.

We assess the impact of Ethiopia’s flagship social protection program, the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) on the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food and nutrition security of households, mothers, and children. We use both pre-pandemic in-person household survey data and a post-pandemic phone survey. Two thirds of our respondents reported that their incomes had fallen after the pandemic began and almost half reported that their ability to satisfy their food needs had worsened. Employing a household fixed effects difference-in-difference approach, we find that the household food insecurity increased by 11.7 percentage points and the size of the food gap by 0.47 months in the aftermath of the onset of the pandemic. Participation in the PSNP offsets virtually all of this adverse change; the likelihood of becoming food insecure increased by only 2.4 percentage points for PSNP households and the duration of the food gap increased by only 0.13 months. The protective role of PSNP is greater for poorer households and those living in remote areas. Results are robust to definitions of PSNP participation, different estimators and how we account for the non-randomness of mobile phone ownership. PSNP households were less likely to reduce expenditures on health and education by 7.7 percentage points and were less likely to reduce expenditures on agricultural inputs by 13 percentage points. By contrast, mothers’ and children’s diets changed little, despite some changes in the composition of diets with consumption of animal source foods declining significantly.

This paper aims at evaluating the impact of productive safety net program on poverty using primary data from randomly selected 600 households in central zone of Tigrai National Regional State, Ethiopia. Propensity Score Matching and Foster-Greer-Thorbecke were used to evaluate impact of the program and poverty, respectively. The paper revealed that the program has positive and significant effect on consumption, livestock holdings, and productive assets. Moreover, impact of the program on total consumption expenditure per adult equivalent was found to be positive and significant. Using total poverty line, poverty rate was lowest among program participants (30.33%) than non-participants (31.1%). Highest poverty rate was found among households headed by women (38.42%) while households headed by men (23.1%). The study also revealed that the program has positive and significant effect on poverty reduction and protecting productive assets. Finally, it was recommended that female headed program participants based programs should be provided to help boost their agricultural output and reduce endemic poverty. Classification-JEL: C Keywords: asset; consumption per adult equivalent; productive safety net program; propensity score matching; poverty; Tigrai

BackgroundHousehold food insecurity is a major public health problem in Ethiopia despite the presence of various interventions implemented by the government. However, there is a dearth of evidence regarding the prevalence and responsible factors in Ethiopia, specifically in the South Ari district. This study, therefore, aimed to assess household food insecurity and associated factors in South Ari district, Southern Ethiopia.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional study was employed from March 11 to April 11, 2021, at South Ari district, Southern Ethiopia. A two-stage sampling technique was used to draw a sample of 717 households. Data were checked and entered into Epi-Data V3.2., and exported to SPSS V25.0 for data exploration and analysis. Variables with a p-value <0.25 in bivariable logistic regression were candidates for multivariable logistic regression. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was fitted to determine factors associated with household food insecurity. Hosmer–Lemeshow goodness-of-fit statistic was used to check model fitness and was satisfied. Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to determine the strength of association. P-value <0.05 was used to declare statistical significance.ResultThe prevalence of household food insecurity was 44.8% (95% CI: 41.1%, 48.5%). Larger family size (8 and above) (AOR = 1.91, 95% CI: 1.10, 3.30), high dependency ratio (AOR = 2.71, 95% CI: 1.67, 4.40), medium dependency ratio (AOR = 1.72, 95% CI: 1.13, 2.62), poor wealth index (AOR = 2.30, 95% CI: 1.53, 3.46), not using agricultural extension service (AOR = 2.25, 95% CI: 1.57, 3.23), and non-beneficiary of productive safety net program (AOR = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.01, 2.87) were factors significantly associated with household food insecurity.ConclusionsThe findings of this study showed a significant proportion of households were food insecure in South Ari District. Larger family size, high and medium dependency ratio, poor wealth index, not using agricultural extension service, and non-beneficiary of productive safety net program were significant risk factors associated with household food insecurity. Therefore, rigorous work is highly needed to enhance income-generating activities, strengthen agricultural productivity, expand the productive safety net program, and limit population pressure through improved family planning use.

The study looked specifically at household food security, factors influencing people's decisions to participate in productive safety net programs, and the impact of production safety net programs on rural household food security, as measured by calorie intake. Primary data were collected from 334 households in four kebeles samples in Kebri Dehar, the district, using a multistage sampling technique. A binary logit model and a propensity score matching model were used to investigate the factors influencing the decision to participate and their impact on food security, respectively. The age of the household head and the size of the family have a positive effect on the decision to join the household. However, extended contact and distance from the property market had a negative impact on the decision to join. In this study, the nearest neighbor match method (5) was used to estimate the mean treatment effect for those treated. The propensity score matching results also show that the production safety net program has a positive and significant impact on household food security. Households participating in the production safety net program have 214.5 kcal/adult/day more than households not participating. The study concluded that there was a significant difference in household calorie intake between participants and nonparticipants.

Impact of the productive safety net program on farmers' investments in sustainable land management in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia

In light of the continuing rise in food prices during and after the 2008 world food crisis, whether food and cash transfers are equally effective in improving food security and diet quality is debatable. To compare the effects of conditional food and cash transfers of the Ethiopian Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) on household food security and dietary diversity. Data on household dietary diversity, child anthropometry, food security, and preference of transfer modalities (food, cash, or mixed) were generated from a cross-sectional survey of 195 PSNP beneficiary households (67 receiving food and 128 receiving cash) in Hawella Tulla District, Sidama, southern Ethiopia. Most beneficiaries (96%) reported food shortages, and 47% reported food shortages that exceeded 3 months. Households receiving cash had better household dietary diversity scores (p = .02) and higher consumption of oils and fats (p = .003) and vitamin A-rich foods (p = .002). Compared with households receiving food, households receiving cash were more affected by increases in food prices that forced them to reduce their number of daily meals (p < .001) and spend less on nonstaples (p < .001). While most households receiving food (82%) preferred to continue receiving food, households receiving cash (56%) preferred a mix of food and cash. Households receiving cash had better household dietary diversity than households receiving food, a result suggesting that cash transfers may be more effective. However, the continuing rise infood prices may offset these benefits unless cash transfers are index-linked to food price fluctuations.

Chronic food insecurity is one of the main problems, which affected millions of Ethiopians for centuries. To solve the food insecurity problem and move away from the previous system of annual emergency appeals, the Ethiopian government in collaboration with development partners launched social protection program called productive safety net program. This study evaluated the impacts of productive safety net program on household poverty alleviation, by measuring the wellbeing of rural households using outcome indicators of the program i.e. calorie intake, consumption expenditure and livestock asset using cross-sectional survey data collected from 200 households in ECC-SDCOH facilitated kebeles of productive safety net program in eastern Ethiopia. Multistage stage sampling technique was used to randomly select representative household heads. Both primary and secondary data were analyzed using descriptive and econometric statistics. Applying a propensity score matching technique, the study found that the program has significantly increased participating households’ calorie intake by 30% (i.e., 856 calories), the consumption expenditure by 2.84% and livestock asset by 40% compared to that of non-participating households. The results of the logit model also indicated that program participation is significantly influenced by family size, education, marital status, dependency ratio, size of land holding and credit use. Therefore, to reduce poverty level of the country, due attention has to be given by the program to reducing gender disparity in poverty and sustained effort is needed to government-administered productive safety net program districts to accelerate the rate of poverty reduction. And the program should consider roles of significant variables in the selection of participant households for the desired impact under related locations.

The study specifically evaluated household food security, factors influencing the decision to participate in productive safety net programs and the impact of production safety net programs on rural household food security, as measured by calorie intake of households. Primary data were collected from 334 households in four barbecue samples in Kebri Dehar district using multistage sampling technique. A binary logit model and a propensity score matching model were used to investigate the factors influencing the decision to participate and their impact on food security, respectively. The age of the household head and the size of the family have a positive effect on the decision to join the household. However, extended contact and distance from the property market had a negative impact on the decision to join. In this study, the nearest neighbor match method (5) was used to estimate the mean treatment effect for those treated. The propensity score matching results also show that the production safety net program has a positive and significant impact on household food security. Households participating in the production safety net program have 214.5 Kcal/Adult/Day more than households not participating. The study concluded that there was a significant difference in household kilocalorie intake between participants and nonparticipants.