DETERMINANTS OF FOOD INSECURITY AND COPING STRATEGIES OF RURUAL HOUSEHOLDSIN SIMADA DISTRICT, SOUTH GONDAR ZONE, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The study was conducted in Simada District, South Gondar Zone, Amhara Regional Statewith the main objective of identifying determinants of food insecurity that influence the food security status of rural households and also to find out the coping strategies that they practice to withstand the situation in the study area. A random sampling method was employed to select 180 sampling units from the stratified ‘gotts’ out of the two clustered agro ecology zones. Both primary and secondary data were used to collect the relevant data for this study. The primary data were collected through structured questionnaire and observations, while secondary data were conducted from various sources. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and econometric tools. In the descriptive statistics such as standard deviation, percentage, mean, ttest and Chi-square (χ2) test were used to describe and test the characteristics of food secure and food insecure groups. The descriptive analysis result revealed that about 106(58.89%) of the households were found tobe food insecure while 74(41.11%) were found to be food secure. Moreover, the binary logistic regression modelwas fitted to analyze the potential determinants affecting household food insecurity in the study area. Among twelve explanatory variables included in the logistic model, seven of them were found to be significant.Variables which determine the probability of households’foodinsecurity status negativelywere cultivated land holding size, livestock ownership, educational level of household head and access to the labor market information while the remaining variables (household size in adult equivalentdependency ratio of household&distance to the nearest market) determine the probabilityof households’ foodinsecurity status positively.On the other hand, sale of livestock, borrowing cash or grain from others, reducing frequency and amount of meals served for the household members, selling of firewood and charcoal, sales of other assets & properties, received food aid and involving in to seasonal migration, were found to be more frequently practiced copping strategiesby rural householdsin the district. Finally, there is a need to limit population sizethrough integrated family planning and education services.There is also a need tostrengthen and expand both formal and alternative or skill training for the rural household, support the productivity of land andlivestock through integrated strategies, improveand establish infrastructure networks to create access to local markets andlabor market information to enhance households’ food security status.