Status of food insecurity in dryland areas of Ethiopia: A review

Abstract

This review assessed the status of food insecurity in Ethiopia with a special focus on dryland areas. Food security is achieved when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. In contrast, food insecurity occurs when individuals, households, or an entire have neither physical nor economical access to the nourishment they need. Food insecurity causes people great difficulty, especially in the dryland areas of Ethiopia. Hence, improving food security policies and intervention mechanisms requires theoretical and empirical evidence on the current food insecurity situation. Nearly 33 million people in Ethiopia suffer from chronic undernourishment and food insecurity of which 25% are in need of urgent assistance. The severity is more pronounced in the arid and semiarid rangelands of Ethiopia which comprises nearly 13% of the population and constitute about 63% of the country’s landmass. The result of the empirical review indicated, especially in dryland areas of Ethiopia, the majority of households were food insecure. Drought risks, desert locus, the spread of corona varies, protracted impacts of past poor seasons, conflict, poor household income, cost of nutritious food, and knowledge on nutritious food factors are the major drivers of food insecurity. The international non-governmental organizations, local organizations, private sector, and government should continue to work together to adopt drought risk-friendly modern technologies and design new production-oriented and commercialization policies to improve food security.