STUDIES ON DETERMINANTS AND STATUS OF FOOD INSECURITY AMONG RURAL HOUSEHOLDS: THE CASE OF DILLA ZURIA WOREDA IN GEDEO ZONE, SNNPR, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The study was conducted with the specific objective of examining food insecurity situation, estimating the food insecurity gap and severity and identifying the determinants of food insecurity at household level in Dilla Zuria wereda. The research objectives were realized through conducting household survey in four kebeles of the study area. Household demographics, educational status, income, expenditure and other data deemed to be relevant were collected, organized, analyzed and interpreted to come with possible results. The analysis employed both descriptive statistics and econometric methods. Descriptive statistics were employed to describe household characteristics with food security status. Binary logistic model was specified and estimated to identify determinants of food insecurity. FGT indices were used for the computation of incidence and severity of food insecurity among sample households. The sample households were classified into food secure and food insecure groups based on kcal actually consumed by the households. Total amount of food consumed by each household was converted into equivalent daily kcal per AE and then compared with recommended daily kcal per adult equivalent. Total daily food energy per adult equivalent of less than 2100 kcal was considered as food insecure and food secure otherwise. The descriptive statistics showed the existence of a significant mean difference in daily income per AE and daily food expenditure per AE between food secure and insecure households. The T - test for household size and adult equivalent showed a mean difference between the two groups at less than 5 and 1 percent probability level respectively whereas at less than 10 and 5 percent significance level for number of income sources and cultivated land, respectively. Binary logit econometric model was employed to estimate determinants of the probability of being food insecure as a function of various household characteristics among sampled households of Dilla zuria wereda. Eight out of twelve variables namely household size, sex of household head, education of household head, daily income per adult equivalent, land cultivated, proportion of food expenditure, access to credit and total livestock were found to be statistically significant with the hypothesized sign as determinants of household food insecurity in the study area. Household size and daily income per AE were significant :)

and are related with the dependent variable positively for the first and inversely for the latter. Household head education and sex of household head were significant and the remaining four, namely, total land cultivated proportion of food expenditure, access to credit and total livestock were found to be at less than 10 percent significance level. The head count ratio revealed that 57 percent of sampled households are found to be food insecure. The gap and severity of food insecurity were estimated to be 13 and 5.9 percent, respectively. Considering the daily recommended 2100 kcal per adult equivalent, a resource needed to bring all households to daily subsistence requirement amounted to 26,586,651 kcal. This shows daily requirements estimate of 71.86 quintals of cereal per day which is equivalent to 26,078.9 quintals per year.