Abstract:
Food security problems have emerged as a major global challenge, especially for poor and
urban households in low-income countries such as Ethiopia. However, there is little
empirical evidence on urban food security status and how people living in urban areas are
coping with sustained food shortage. This study aims to address this gap by analysis of
food security status, associated factors and coping strategies in Burayu town at household
level. The study is based on primary data collected from 177 sample selected at random
using questionnaire. Additional information was also obtained from focus group
discussion, key informant interview and personal observation. The data has been analyzed
by descriptive statistics, inferential statistics (x2
and t-test) and economic model (binary
model) using Stata software. Qualitative data were used to substantiate the responses of
questionnaire. Findings of this study showed that 53.7 % and 46.3 of households were food
insecure and secure, respectively. Findings of binary logistic regression analysis also
showed that educational status. The model result shows out of 10 explanatory variables,
about 5 variables had statistically significant relationship with household food security.
Dependency ratio was negatively related with food security while the other variables (age,
use of credit, educational status of household head, and income of household head) were
positively related with household food security. The most common coping mechanisms
households took include petty trading, reduce size of meal, work as daily laborer and
reduce number of meals. Therefore, national policies and programs need to focus on
giving attention for young age headed households the how to creating income generating
activities, promoting family planning through integrated health and education services and
attention should be given to credit advancing institutions such as microfinance and should
make the loan. Finally, the study explored some survival strategies used by households to
mitigate the impacts of food securit
