DETERMINANTS OF HOUSEHOLD FOOD INSECURITY IN MERTI WOREDA OF ARSI ZONE OROMIA REGION A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES ST MARYS UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS BY MERON GEMEDA MELISE JUNE 2020 ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA i ACKNOWLEDGMENT First and for most, I would like to extend my unshared thanks to the almighty God for providing me the opportunity and smoothening of all aspects regarding the program. I am deeply grateful and indebted to Dr. Wondimagegn Chekol, my research advisor, for your encouragement, suggestions, guidance and overall assistance. Successful accomplishment of this research would have been very difficult without your generous time devotion from the early design of the research proposal to the final write-up of the thesis by adding valuable and constructive comments, which enabled me to complete the research work and thesis write-up. No words can suffice to express my feelings of gratitude to my husband Fikru Tefera who are the source of special strength towards the successful completion of my study for your generous assistance and helpful encouragement during my graduate study with all your kindness and provision of the necessary research material. Furthermore, my special thanks go to my family who encouraged and provide me valuable assistance. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks. Finally, I am indebted to my class mates for their encouragement throughout my academic work. ii ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS CIDA Canadian International Development Agency CSA Central Statistical Authority DFID Department for International Development ENI Ethiopian Nutrition Institute FAO Food and Agriculture Organization FDRE Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia FGT Foster, Greere and Thorbecke FNU Food and Nutrition Unit HFS Household Food Security IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development IFPRI International Food Policy Research Institute IGADD Inter Governmental Authority for Drought and Development LPF Linear Probability FUNCTION MOFED Ministry of Finance and Economic Development MOPED Ministry of Planning and Economic Development TLU Tropical Livestock Unit UNDP United Nations Development Program USAID United States Aid for International Development VIF Variance Inflation Factor WIBS Woreda Integrated Basic service iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page acknowledgment ................................................................................................................... ii acronyms and abbreviations ............................................................................................... iii table of contents ................................................................................................................... v list of tables ........................................................................................................................ viii list of figures ........................................................................................................................ x abstract ............................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 1 1.1Background of the Study ........................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Statement of the problem ........................................................................................................ 3 1.3 Objectives of the Study ............................................................................................................. 4 1.3.1 Genera objectives ................................................................................................................. 4 1.3.2 Specific Objectives ................................................................................................................. 5 1.4 Significance of the Study ........................................................................................................... 5 1.5 Scope and Limitations of the Study .......................................................................................... 5 1.6 Organization of the Study ....................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER TWO LITRATURE REVIEW ........................................................................ 7 2.1 Concepts and Definitions........................................................................................................ 7 2.2. Sources of Food Insecurity .................................................................................................... 10 2.3 Food Security Situation in Ethiopia ...................................................................................... 12 2.4. Food Security Strategy of Ethiopia ........................................................................................ 16 2.4.1 Recurrent drought ................................................................................................................ 17 2.4.2 Population pressure: ............................................................................................................ 16 iv 2.4.3 Limitation in technology: ..................................................................................................... 17 2.4.4 lack of product diversification & market integration: .......................................................... 17 2.4.5 Limited capacity in planning and implementation: ............................................................. 17 2.4.6 Environmental degradation: ................................................................................................. 17 2.5 Measuring Food Security Outcomes ....................................................................................... 18 2.6 Incidence of Food Insecurity ................................................................................................... 19 2.7 Food Self-sufficiency and Dimensions of Food-Insecurity .................................................... 21 2.8 Determinants of Household Food Insecurity .......................................................................... 27 2.9 Livelihood Strategies ............................................................................................................... 27 2.10 The Sustainable Livelihoods Framework ............................................................................. 27 2.11 Empirical Studies on Determinants of Food Security ........................................................... 29 CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................................... 31 3.1. Location ................................................................................................................................. 31 3.2. Crop production ..................................................................................................................... 31 3.3. Agricultural extension ............................................................................................................ 36 3.4. Livestock ................................................................................................................................. 36 3.5. Infrastructure and Communication Services ......................................................................... 36 3.6 Data source and sampling ....................................................................................................... 35 3.7 Data analysis and empirical model ........................................................................................ 35 3.7.1 Determinants ........................................................................................................................ 35 3.7.2 Model specification .............................................................................................................. 39 3.8 Definitions of variables and working hypothesis .................................................................... 39 CHAPTER FOUR RESULT AND DISCUSSION . ............................................................ 44 4.1. Measuring the Food Security Status of the Houseshold ........................................................ 44 v 4.2 Description of the socioeconomic characterstics .................................................................... 45 4.2.1 Age and sex composition of the sample respondent ............................................................ 45 4.2.2 Family size ........................................................................................................................... 46 4.2.3 Dependency ratio and age of household heads .................................................................... 47 4.2.4 Sex of household head ......................................................................................................... 48 4.2.5 Education ............................................................................................................................. 49 4.2.6 Land holding per household and per capita ......................................................................... 50 4.2.7 Livestock holding................................................................................................................. 49 4.2.8 Ox ownership ......................................................................................................................