Comparative Analysis of Household’s Food Security Status in Dire Dawa: Rural-Urban Dichotomy

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Date

2023-11

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Addis Ababa University

Abstract

Food security is the ability to access sufficient and nutritious food to live a healthy and active life. The primary goal of this study was to assess the level of food security and its determinants across urban and rural households in Dire Dawa. Both primaryand secondary data have been gathered for the study. Using a multistage sampling technique, primary data were obtained from 356 randomly chosen rural families and 395 randomly selectedurban households, respectively, and secondary data were gathered from various sources. Descriptive statistics, the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) and probit logit models were used to examine the data. The survey's findings showed that 35.67% of the selected rural households had access to enough food, while the remaining 64.33% did not. Furthermore, a 65.6% food security rate and a 34.4% food insecurity rate were discovered in the sample of urban households. The results of the Probit regression analysis showed that factors such as the sex of the household head,educational level, household size, donkey ownership (unlike Oxen ownership in the highlands for plough agriculture, and camel and livestock ownership as major income source in the lowlands, donkey in Dire Dawa and its environs is important pack animal and used as source of income in the area by hiring it), cash crop production, off-farm income, income, access to irrigation, and access to better seed all significantly increased the likelihood ofa rural household being able to provide for its members' nutritional needs. Moreover, sex of household head, educational level, household size, remittance, saving, and urban agriculture determines the food security status of urban household at 5% level of significance. Therefore, thestudy advises that in order to improve the status of food security for households in the study area,rural households should be encouraged to promote offfarm income, work on household size through sustainable awareness creation, promote cash crop productivity, access to irrigation, increasing income, owning donkeys, and improve the household heads' educational level.

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Keywords

Food security, rural households, urban households, probit logit regression, Determinants of food security and Dire Dawa

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