Determinants of Household Food Security in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Western Ethiopia

Abstract

Although several efforts have been made so far to improve the overall challenges of food security, it still remains a major problem in the rural areas of Ethiopia. This study examines the food security conditions, and the variables that affect households’ food security status in the study area. The study is based on a mixed method research, combining both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Probability and non-probability sampling techniques were used to generate 221 sample households. Both descriptive (percentage) and inferential statistics (Tobit model) were used to analyze the data. The result indicated that 47.96% of the respondents were food secure whereas 52.04% of the respondents were food insecure. The average distance between food insecure households and the minimum recommended calorie intake is 8.9% whereas the variation among food insecure households is 2.53%. Moreover, food security was positively and significantly related with the amount of cultivated farmland, irrigated farm size, livestock holding, grazing land, and participation in off-farm activities. On the converse, family size, dependence ratio, and distance to market had a negative and significant effect on food security status.