Abstract:
This study was carried out to identify the major determinants of the rural household food
security status and listing out of local coping strategies. To achieve the objective of the study,
cross sectional survey was employed and 147 rural households were selected randomly
following probability proportional sampling procedure to proportionate number of kebeles.
Structured household survey questionnaire, focus group discussions, key informant interviews
and observation were used for data collection, and analysed using descriptive statistics and
binary logistic regression model. This study followed a consumption based calorie deprivation
indicator to measure the household food security status using seven days recalling. Therefore,
the survey result showed that about 27% and 73% of sample respondents were food secure and
insecure respectively. The most common coping mechanisms households took include reduce the
number & size of meal per day and sales of the live animal & its products. Furthermore, the
binary logit model outputs revealed that among eleven variables eight of them were significantly
influencing household food security. These were age, family size, farm land size, livestock
ownership, oxen ownership, off/non-farm income, use of fertilizer and improved seed for
alleviating the food security problem of the study area, it needs to strengthen the food security
intervention programs, giving attention for young age headed households and greater focus
should be given on creating off/non- farm income generating activities, promoting family
planning through integrated health and education services and promoting agricultural extension
packages.
