A Study on Rural Households' Food Security Status: The Case of Kuyyu Wereda, Oromiya Regional State
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2001-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This research paper is a study on rural households food security status in
Kuyyu wereda. The general objective of the study was to find out the status of the
rural households to access to resources which enable them to produce or purchase
adequate amount of food. Moreover, the basic factors to food security/insecurity
conditions in the study area were also discussed in detail.
The analyses of the study were made use of both primary and secondary data.
The primmy data were collected from 400 sample households living in four of the
nineteen Peasant Associations (PAs) in the wereda. The secondary data, on the
other hand, were collected from different libraries, document centers and offices.
The study discusses some demographic characteristics of the study area like
size and sex distribution, fertility, language, religion, literacy and marital status of
the population. Major farm activities of the peasants and access to productive assets
such as farmlands, livestock, draught power, farm inputs and labor were also
discussed. Moreover, the households' sources of grainlcash income and
expenditure, factors determining grain productivity and per capita dietary energy
supply as well as the households' asset, dietmy energy supply and cash positions
were discussed in detail.
Food availability calculations were carried out to measure the status of
households' food security status in the area. Accordingly, only 5.2 percent of the
sample households in the area were found to be access to the nationally recommended daily per capita dietGlY energy supply i. e. 2100 kcal. On the whole,
the total available dietary energy from all sources as reported by the households
fulfills less than half of their per capita calorie requirement. Multiple regression
analyses were also carried out to find out to what extent the selected variables affect
the households' per capita dietary energy supply and the farmlands productivity.
According to these analyses, possession of farm oxen and livestock, fertilizer
application and family size were among the critical factors determining both
productivity and the status of the households to access to adequate amount offood.
Therefore, it is suggested that among other things, increasing the real income
of the peasants, diversifying the rural economy, assuring tenure security, subsidizing
basic commercial farm inputs and awaking the peasants continuously on issues
related to resource management and family planning must receive policy attention to
reduce the households' food insecurity. Moreover, attempts should be made to
increase the productivity of the livestock sub-sector in the area so that its food
security role will be maximized.
Description
Keywords
Rural Households' Food Security Status