Determinants of Rural Household Food Insecurity and Local Coping Strategies: The Case of Hoko District in Sidama Region, Ethiopia

Abstract

: There are myriad of factors contributing for household food insecurity in rural households in Ethiopia Several efforts have been put in place to alleviate food insecurity globally, nationally and even locally. Despite these efforts, the situation continues to prevail and sometimes even increase in the contemporary human society. It is therefore imperative that food insecurity gets addressed appropriately. Therefore, this study sought to investigate household food insecurity and coping strategies rural households in the study area. A mixed method study design was used to attain the objectives of the study. A total of 382 sample households (308 male and 74 female) selected from 5 kebeles of the district were interviewed using structured and semi structured interview schedule. Qualitative data were collected using focus group discussion and key informant interview. Data analysis was done with the help of STATA 13. A binary logistic regression model was also employed to identify factors affecting farmer’s adoption of common bean technologies in the area. The result of a descriptive statistics revealed that more than 62% of the study participant were food insecure and the remaining 37.3 were on food secure category. The result of a binary logistic regression model showed that the covariates sex of household head, age of household head, landholding size, livestock holding and off farm income size have a statistically significant positive relationship with the food security status of a household in the study area. The overall findings of the study revealed that a monotonous dietary pattern is prevalent and manifested among majority of the study participants. Therefore, all the necessary awareness creation and training on preparing different types of well-diversified recipes by using locally available farm produce such as Enset should be done by concerned bodies.