Household Food Security Situation and Coping Strategies in Urban Setting: The Case Study From Hosaina Town, Snnpr.

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Date

2012-06

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Addis Ababa University

Abstract

Rapid urbanization is possibly the most prevailing demographic process in most developing countries in recent decades, but some urban areas are not well prepared to satisfy the growing demands of the residents. With the current continuing urbanization, increasing urban poverty trends, and rapid rUIlup in prices of food, the question of urban food security could become one of the greatest challenge for many urban households, and the concern offood security are progressively shifting from rural to urban. A study was conducted in to investigate the main determinants and state of urban household food security, causes and impacts of food insecurity on the household's behavioural and socioeconomic aspects as well as their coping strategies. Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies were applied. By considering as the most appropriate approach to have a great understanding of realities regarding the research objectives through dialogue between the researcher and respondents; for soliciting knowledge, opinions, perceptions, experiences and views of participants to get the intricate details of phenomena, qualitative methods were applied as a dominant approach in the study. Quantitative method was also applied to show some numerical data. The triangulation of semistructured interview of sample households, in-depth interview with key informants, focus group discussions, observations, in-depth study of case households, published and unpublished materials were employed as sources of data. The entire data were analyzed based on the meanings, opinions, and life experiences of the people reside in Hosaina town. Generally, the study found that the state of food security for the majority of the sample households was get worse. This was verified mainly by the data collected regarding to the current state of diet of the households: food variety, number of meals per day and trends of food consumption over time had declined to a low level. Household composition, Sources of income, amount of income and market prices were identified as the major factors that determine urban household food security. Poverty, lack of productive assets, unemployment, high dependency on the casual jobs, rapid urbanization, alld increase ill prices of food and other commodities were distinguished asfactors contributingfor the occurrence or exacerbating household food insecurity. Emotional problems, hunger, productivity losses, inefficient income earning, poor performance and higher risk of chronic disease were explained by the households as some of the impacts of food insecurity. A number of coping strategies were employed to cope with food shortages. After all, the study recommended expanding income earning opportunities, addressing food prices, improving urban infrastructure and social services, promoting urban agriculture and the social capital, and rural development as strategies to enhance the accessibility of food for urban households. Key words: urban; household;food security; food insecurity; determinants; impacts; coping strategies

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Keywords

urban, household, food security, food insecurity, determinants, impacts, coping strategies

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