An understanding of the major causes of food insecurity is important for interventions aiming at reducing it. Therefore, this study was conducted to measure food insecurity status of pastoral households, to identify determinants of food insecurity status of pastoral households, and to identify pastoral households coping strategies to deal the problem of food insecurity in the study area. In order to achieve these objectives, cross-sectional data on demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and institutional aspects were collected from 150 randomly selected households in four Kebeles based on probability proportional to size through semi-structured interview schedule and focus group discussion. Descriptive statistics, like mean, standard deviation and percentage distribution. Bivariate analysis such as t-tests and Chi-square ( 𝜒2) tests and binary Logit regression were used to achieve the stated objectives. The results from descriptive statistics show that out of the total surveyed households%|||| were food insecure and while 36 % were food secure. The binary logit regression results show that among the twelve variables, eight were statistically significant determinants of household food insecurity. These variables are: family size, age of the household head and dependency ratio were positively related with food insecurity. The remaining significant variables Sex of the household, total livestock owned, offfarm income, level of education, remittance, food aid received and credit access were negatively related with food insecurity status of the households. Furthermore, households used different coping strategies against food insecurity and these include: sale for firewood and charcoal production and sales, short-term or seasonal migration, sale of more livestock than usual.