Impact of Productive Safety Net Program on Rural Household Food Security in Somali Regional State: A Case of Kebri Dehar District, Ethiopia

Abstract

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.