Villagization Program: Land Use Land Cover Dynamics, Food Security and Climate Change Adaptation Strategy Nexus: A Case Study form Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Western Ethiopia
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Date
2023-06-20
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Current information on food security, land use land cover dynamics, and climate change adaptation approaches is critical for nationa, regional and local planning, natural resource management, and sound decision making. The objective of this dissertation is to assess the determinants of food security and anayze the impact of the villagization program on households' food security status, land use land cover dynamics and climate change adaptation strategies in the Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State. The study employed a mixed research design that incorporated both quantitative and qualitative data sources. Both probability and nonprobability sampling techniques were used to determine sample households. Descriptive statistics, logistic and tobit model, and Propensity Score Matching (PSM) techniques were used to analyze the data. The result indicated that 47.96% of the respondents were food secure whereas the 52.04% of the respondents were food insecure. Food security was positively and significantly related with the size of cultivated farmland, irrigation farm size, livestock holding, access to grazing, and participation in off-farm activities. Contrarily, family size, dependence ratio, and distance to market had a negative and significant effect on respondents‟ food security situation. The results also indicated that non-villagized households' food consumption scores were 3.56 times higher than villagized households. Besides, non-villagized households showed 573.9 times higher kcal/day as compared to the villagized households. Moreover, the study revealed that non-villagized households had an average 0.2 (20%) points higher adaptation strategy to climate change than that of program participants. The land use land cover detection indicated a dramatic decrease at the rate of 27.2 ha of forestland, 17.1 ha of shrub and grassland, and 4.6 ha of water bodies per year, while the share of cultivated land, residential, and bare land have expanded at an average rate of 34.3 ha, 11.7 ha, and 2.9 ha per year respectively between 1999 and 2022. To tackle the food insecurity issues, the regional government and other concerned bodies should fulfill basic infrastructure, provide sufficient agricultural inputs, promote irrigation. In addition, raising local community awareness, reforestation, practicing land use plans, and promoting successful livelihood diversification could help to achieve sustainable natural resource management
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Keywords
Calorie intake, Adaptation strategies, Food insecurity index, Forest depletion, Local coping strategies, Population pressure