THE DETERMINANTS OF RURAL HOUSEHOLDS FOOD SECURITY AND COPING STRATEGIES: THE CASE OF META DISTRICT, EAST HARARGHE ZONE OF OROMIA NATIONAL REGIONAL STATE OF ETHIOPIA

Abstract

An understanding of the major determinants of food security is important for interventions aiming at minimizing food insecurity. Therefore, this study was carried out in Meta district of East Hararghe Zone, the objectives of this study were to assess status of household food security, to analyze the determinants of food security status among the rural households and to identify the mechanisms employed by the households to cope with food shortage. In order to achieve these objectives, data on demographic and socio-economic characteristics and institutional aspects were collected from 149 households drawn from 3 randomly selected sample kebeles through interview schedule, key informant interviews and focus group discussion. Descriptive statistics, inferential statistics and Logit model were used as methods of data analysis. The survey results indicate that 53.02% of the respondents were food secure, while 46.98% were food insecure. Results also indicate that there was a significant mean difference at different level of significance between the food secure and food insecure households in terms of age of household head, sex of household head, family size, dependency ratio, educational levels of household head, size of cultivated land, livestock ownership excluding oxen own, off/non-farm income, cash crop produces, fertilizer user, contact with development agents, improve seeds user, distance to the nearest market and access to credit. Among 16 explanatory variables included in the logit model, 8 of them were found to be significant at different probability level, including sex of household head, size of cultivated land and livestock ownership excluding oxen were positive effect on food security whereas, age of household head, family size, dependent ratio, access to x the nearest market and access to credit had negative effect on food security. Reducing numbers and quantity of meals, sales of livestock, purchase food on cash, borrowing grain/ cash from others and eating less preferred food were some of frequently practiced coping mechanisms in study area. Generally, the study recommends that proactive policy which facilities the family planning techniques, expansion of infrastructure services, as well as awareness creation on better utilization of credit with expansion of credit access should be integrated as food security efforts.