Analysis of Vulnerability to Food Insecurity in Drought-prone Areas of the Amhara Region of Ethiopia: Case Study in Lay Gaint Woreda

Abstract

Vulnerability to food insecurity is a major social and economic problem in drought-prone areas of Ethiopia. A range of factors from physical environmental circumstances to policy and institutions-related issues determine food security outcomes and vulnerability to food insecurity at the household level. The general objective of this study was to identify factors that determine households’ vulnerability to food insecurity in drought prone areas of the Amhara Region of Ethiopia by using Lay Gaint woreda (district) as a case study site. Data were collected using questionnaire, in-depth interview and focus group discussions and both quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis were employed. The results showed that the majority of households sampled (79.6 per cent) experienced food insecurity. The situation was worse among femaleheaded households that 86 per cent of them were food insecure. It was also found that 39 per cent of the female-headed households did not have farmland. The majority of sampled households employed ex-post coping strategies to reduce seasonal food shortages, such as reducing quantity of meals (69 per cent), borrowing from relatives and friends (68 per cent), selling small ruminants (64 per cent) and consuming less preferred foods (62 per cent). The main adaptive strategies employed by the majority of sampled households included diversifying livestock kept (68 per cent), planting trees (66 per cent) and livestock fattening (58 per cent). Binary logistic regression results showed that location or agroclimatic zone, number of livestock owned, education of household heads and availability of working labour were significant predictors of household vulnerability to food insecurity. This suggests that building household assets and geographically differentiated development interventions will improve household food security in the study area, and in other similar environments in the country.

Keywords: Livelihood assets, food insecurity, vulnerability, coping strategies, Ethiopia