Urban Food Insecurity: Determinants, Extent and Household Coping Strategies in Kebele 13/14 of Kirkos Sub City, Addis Ababa
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Date
2010-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study was conducted at one of the most deprived regions of Addis Ababa, Kebele
13/14 of Kirkos sub city, commonly known us "Cherkos Sefer ". Amongst the city
dwellers, the area is known for its deprived citizens and very low living standards. The
study had objectives of finding out the determinants, extents and household copi~lJ.
strategies of food insecure residents in the Kebele. Two stage sampling technique was
employed to extract the sample Fom the whole population. First, a purposive sampling
technique was used to divide the residents of the Kebele into Male headed and Female
headed households. Then, simple random sampling technique was used to come up with a
total of 275 households, which is 5% of the total households in the locality, as a sampling
size.
Bya means of 24 hour recall period, the daily calorie intake per capita was calculated
for the households under study. The analysis of the data showed that 70.1% of the
sampled populations are food insecure. The most common determinants of household
food insecurity were found to be gender of the household head, family ~ize or dependency
ratio, very low average monthly income, high expenditure on food and hence very high
urban food prices. The seriousness of the proble_m is vividly presented. PersonqZ
interviews with residents revealed that there exists a very serious problem that needs
urgent response ji'Dln city/country planners. Coping strategies were another concern
analyzed in the study. It was found that most food insecure households have reduced their
meal only to twice 01' once a day starting two years ago. Limiting the size of food per
meal and consuming less preferred food types were other commonly adopted strategy to
cope with food insecurity. Some households have also reported that they sold household
assets to buy food. Impacts of food insecurity were also studied and it was found that the
major impact was extreme hunger sensation. Other impacts were emotional distress,
physical weight loss, anxiety, continuous health complications, and educational and work
peljormance fluctuations.
Key Words: Food Security, Food Insecurity, Determinants of Food Security, Coping Nfechanisms
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Keywords
Food Security, Food Insecurity, Determinants of Food Security, Coping Nfechanisms