Summary of Food Security and Vulnerability in Selected Urban Centers of Ethiopia
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SUMMARY OF FOOD SECURITY AND VULNERABILITY IN SELECTED URBAN CENTERS OF ETHIOPIA Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ! &Øا 3•£µ≤©¥π °Æ§ 6µ¨Æ•≤°¢©¨©¥π 3¥µ§π ©Æ 3•¨•£¥•§ 5≤¢°Æ #•Æ¥≤•≥ ض %¥®©Ø∞©° Table of Contents Executive Summary .........................................................................................................................................4 Socio-Economic Background Characteristics..............................................................................................4 Status of Food Security................................................................................................................................4 Public Interventions......................................................................................................................................7 Policy Implications........................................................................................................................................7 1. Background and Introduction .......................................................................................................................8 1.1 Urban Food Security: An Introduction....................................................................................................8 1.2 Locating Urban Ethiopia: Socio-Economic Dimensions.........................................................................9 1.3 Background and Justification for the Study..........................................................................................11 2. General Information about the Study Population.......................................................................................15 2.1 Demographic Characteristics of the Sample Population .....................................................................15 2.2 Socio-Economic Characteristics of the Sample Population.................................................................17 2.3 Quality of Life: Housing Conditions......................................................................................................20 2.4 Sources of Energy................................................................................................................................22 2.5 Summing Up ........................................................................................................................................23 3. Status of Food Security in Urban Ethiopia.................................................................................................24 3.1. Food Availability..................................................................................................................................24 3.2 Access to Food ....................................................................................................................................32 3.3 Food Absorption...................................................................................................................................48 4. Mapping Food Security in Urban Ethiopia .............................................................................................53 4.1. Levels of Food Security in Selected Urban Centres ...........................................................................53 4.2. Shocks and Coping Strategies............................................................................................................64 4.3 Public Interventions..............................................................................................................................69 4.4 Summing Up ........................................................................................................................................72 5. Conclusions and Policy Implications ................................................................................................73 References:....................................................................................................................................................74 &Øا 3•£µ≤©¥π °Æ§ 6µ¨Æ•≤°¢©¨©¥π 3¥µ§π ©Æ 3•¨•£¥•§ 5≤¢°Æ #•Æ¥≤•≥ ض %¥®©Ø∞©° FIG 1.5: LOCATION OF SAMPLE URBAN CENTRES...............................................................................................13 TABLE 1.2: SURVEYED UNITS AND FGDS BY URBAN CENTRES ...........................................................................14 TABLE 3.6: CHANGE IN CEREAL CONSUMPTION OVER THE LAST ONE YEAR ..........................................................43 TABLE 3.7: REASONS FOR CHANGE IN CEREAL CONSUMPTION ...........................................................................43 TABLE 4.1: INDEX OF FOOD AVAILABILITY AND CONSTITUENT INDICATORS...........................................................53 TABLE 4.3: INDEX OF EDUCATION AND CONSTITUENT INDICATORS ......................................................................55 TABLE 4.4: INDEX OF GENDER PARITY AND CONSTITUENT INDICATORS ...............................................................55 TABLE 4.5: INDEX OF ECONOMIC STATUS AND CONSTITUENT INDICATORS...........................................................57 TABLE 4.6: INDEX OF FOOD ACCESS AND CONSTITUENT INDICATORS/SUB-INDICES .............................................58 TABLE 4.8: INDEX OF FOOD ABSORPTION AND CONSTITUENT INDICATORS...........................................................59 TABLE 4.10: INDEX OF FOOD SECURITY.............................................................................................................60 TABLE 4.13: INDEX OF FOOD SECURITY OUTPUT AND CONSTITUENT INDICATORS................................................62 TABLE 4.14: CORRELATION AMONG ALL INDICES ................................................................................................62 † TABLE 4.15: VARIABLES HAVING SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON FOOD SECURITY OUTPUTS .........................................63 TABLE 4.16: SPECIFIC POLICY INTERVENTIONS IN URBAN CENTRES ...................................................................64 &Øا 3•£µ≤©¥π °Æ§ 6µ¨Æ•≤°¢©¨©¥π 3¥µ§π ©Æ 3•¨•£¥•§ 5≤¢°Æ #•Æ¥≤•≥ ض %¥®©Ø∞©° Executive Summary The food security and vulnerability study for urban Ethiopia has largely been necessitated by the new increased food insecurity stemming largely from the global economic downturn and high food prices, which has been translated to the country partly through high inflation rates. The impact of inflation has been one key element that has resulted in increased food insecurity in urban areas. The prices of cereals have increased by more than 100% since mid 2005 when the country faced spiral price increases. The ’new emergency’ facing the urban poor as a result of the rapid food price increases resulted in the Government initiating an urban grain market stabilization programme in 2007. This urban study analyses the impact of the price increases on food security status from the conventional lenses of food availability, access and absorption. Availability in urban settings, is largely a function of market forces, whilst access is determined by the purchasing power (which in turn is an outcome of household income and market prices) and absorption is a function of health, sanitation and hygiene. With a shock such as the price increases experienced in 2008, a food insecure household resort to a series of coping mechanisms to temporarily address food insecurity, hence the study also addresses this. Finally, the study examined the public interventions to mitigate these issues. The study uses both secondary and primary information. The primary survey was conducted at household level and trader levels supplemented with qualitative focus group and key informant interviews. This study was conducted in 18 selected urban centres spread across the country, covering eight regions including: Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa cities; Harar town; and selected towns in Tigray, Amhara, Oromiya, Somali and Afar regions. Socio-Economic Background Characteristics The age and sex characteristics of the study areas largely follow that of a typical developing country, with a flat base population, owing to high fertility rates and low life expectancy. The sex ratios in the studied areas, is such that the female population is slightly higher than the males particularly in the smaller towns. This could be largely due to male-selective migration from these urban areas, as the stream of migration is not only from rural to urban areas but also from small urban centres to larger ones. Migration into urban centres has added to their congestion levels, which is evident from high crowding (measured in terms of number of persons sharing a room). Majority of the households did not have a separate kitchen. Furthermore, over half of the households use wood as the primary source of cooking fuel, while another 40 percent use charcoal. Thus, general quality of life in the studied urban areas was found to be low. Almost all (over 95 percent) of the sampled population were found to be working in the tertiary sector. Majority of these were either employed in government and private sector or were self-employed or ran small enterprises. The daily wage labourers form a highly vulnerable section of the population and it was observed that a fair proportion of the population worked as non-agricultural wage workers. A fair proportion (over a quarter) of children in the studied urban areas stayed alone, away from both the parents, the proportion being higher in larger cities - a pointer to children staying away for work or education. Status of Food Security Food Availability Over 80 percent of surveyed households