Food Insecurity and Coping Strategies Among Agro Pastoral Households: The Case of Lare Woreda, Nuer Zone, Gambella Regional State of Ethiopia

Ruach Bayak Jagnang, Tesfaye Lemma, Eric Ndemo

Abstract


This study was carried out to assess the household food security status and coping mechanisms in the Lare wereda of Gambella regional state of Ethiopia. The objective of the study was to investigate determinants of food insecurity status of farming rural households, to identify factors influencing rural households‟ food insecurity status and to find out the coping mechanism. In light of this, examinations of the demographic and socio economic characteristics of sampled households were undertaken. The necessary data were obtained through household survey, from primary data of sampled rural households. In this study, two stage probability proportional to size sampling procedure was employed to select 4 kebeles and 160 sample households out of 28 kebeles of the study areas. For the purpose, interview schedule was prepared to collect primary data from sampled rural households. Descriptive statistics and econometric model/binary logistic regression model were employed for data analysis using SPSS. The specific statistic used includes, mean, standard deviation, percentage, tables, figures and frequency distribution. In addition, t and chi-square tests were used to compare food secure and insecure sample groups with respect to explanatory variables. A binary logistic model was used to identify the determinants of food insecurity. The result of the study revealed that 66.25 % of sampled rural households in study area were food insecure on the basis of the recommended minimum calorie requirement (i.e., 2100kcal) whereas 33.75% of sampled rural household was food secure. A total of thirteen explanatory variables, 8 continuous and 5 discrete, were included in the empirical model. Out of these, six were found to be statistically significant. These variables include Household size, Age of Household head, Dependency ratio, cultivated land, Remittance and Off farm income. On other hand, sale of livestock, sale of milk and milky product, fishing, selling of fire wood, borrow grain/cash and gathering wild fruit, were found to be more frequently practiced as mean of coping mechanism used by people in study area. The finding suggests the following set of recommendation: governmental and non-governmental institutions should devise some feasible measures such awareness creation on family planning to reduce large household size, capacity building for elderly household heads, improving agricultural technologies that enhance the productivity of land per unit area and training of agro-pastoral households on land management as well as strengthened microfinance institutions service delivery in the wereda were recommended.


Keywords


Gambella, food insecurity, copping mechanism, Lare, agro-pastoral

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