Food security status and determinants in North-Eastern rift valley of Ethiopia

Background: "Food insecurity is a major problem in Ethiopia due to frequent droughts in a country where farmers depend on rain fed agriculture". It is affecting the population that usually experiences food shortage even at the optimal conditions of weather and market in the area. Agro-pastoral areas are characterized by frequent calamities, and lack of adequate infrastructure, social services and institutions in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was designed to analyze the food security status and determinants of the agro-pastoral community in northeastern rift valley of Ethiopia. A total of 337 households were selected using simple random sampling techniques. Various descriptive techniques were used to analyze the data. The Foster-Greer-Thorbecke model was employed to estimate the food security indices and the headcount ratio. Results: The finding revealed that, about 64% of the sampled households were found to be food insecure. Based on the logit regression model; age, marital status and family size were negatively affected the household food security. Whereas, irrigation land use, livestock ownership and access to credit were affected positively. Conclusion: Thus, it can be concluded that equally promoting male and female agro-pastoral communities in food and nutrition security should be a public issue for accessing sustainable food. Fundamentally, the finding is focused on the need for coordinated policy actions including family planning, providing household credit services, crop insurance and using total livestock units, technology adoption and supporting income diversification. Therefore, future intervention plans should focus on capacity building through enhancing their access to human, financial and physical capital.