Determinants of Food Insecurity and Coping Mechanisms among Rural Farm Households: The Case of Shashogo and East Badewacho Districts, Hadiya Zone, South Nation Nationalities People Region, Ethiopia

This study was attempted on analyzing the determinants of food insecurity and coping mechanisms among rural farm households the case of Shashogo and East Badewacho districts, Hadiya zone, south nation nationalities peoples region, Ethiopia using primary data. Structured questionnaires administered through personal interviews. Both descriptive statistics and econometric methods were used to analyses the data. In this study the researchers identified that rural farm households was basically categorized into two, food secured and food insecured households based on the amount of caloric intake. Indeed, in this study the result of Foster Greer Thorbecke (FGT) indices namely head count ratio P ( = 0), short-fall P ( = 1) and severity of food insecurity P ( =2) are used to show how much the magnitude of food insecurity looks like in the study area. So, that the headcount ratio P ( = 0), short-fall P ( = 1) and severity of food insecurity P ( =2), were 56 %, 23 % and 11 %, respectively. While analysis of determinants of food insecurity was done by logit regression model, in which probability of households being food secure were used as dependent variable. In this case years of schooling of household head, cultivated land size, off-farm activities, family size, application of chemical fertilizer, death of household head, saving and distance to the market center were found significant. The most common coping strategies households practices to reduce food security problem is reducing number and size of meal, sales of animals to meet purchase of grain and borrowing cash or grains from others and purchasing grain were the main coping strategies. Besides this the government taking an action to reduce food security problem through providing safety net program. Overall the result of this study suggests those stakeholders and concerned bodies who focus on eradicating food insecurity, encouragement and expansion of different coping mechanisms are expected to enhance educational level of household head, to provide aids and subsidized inputs to improve agriculture which in turn increases farm income, to develop rural infrastructure, to create off-farm job opportunity, sensitizing households to develop saving habit and to take into consideration health condition of households head.