The Role of Urban Agriculture in Household Food Security in Addis Ababa: Case Study in Lemi-Kura Sub-City
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Date
2024-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Improving food accessibility in urban areas where household food security is reliant on household income necessitates job opportunities and a well-oiled grocery store chain. The study was conducted to examine the role of urban agriculture to the household food security of urban farmers in Lemi-kura subcity, Addis Ababa. The study employed mixed quantitative and qualitative research methods. Additionally, given the goal of the study is to determine the link between its dependent variables, it was also said to have an explanatory design. This study design aimes to comprehensively understand the phenomenon by investigating the underlying roles, relationships, and factors contributing to its implementation of UA. Both primary and secondary data were employed in the investigation. The community-based crosssectional study was carried out by the researcher. To make sure sample is representative of the population, a purposive sampling technique was employed to ensure that the sample wereda’s are representative of the population. The data collection tools were questionnaires, interviews, observation, and FGD to obtain important data on the role of UA and HH food security. The results of the study show that 61.5% of respondents reported being food secure, whereas 10.9% reported being moderately food insecure and 27.4% reported being slightly food insecure. About 83.5% of respondents said urban agriculture helped them with marketing and met their daily food needs, while the remaining respondents said it wasn't enough to meet their daily food needs. In response, almost 75.7% of participants stated that UA assisted them in purchasing food for themselves, while 24.3% stated that it is difficult to purchase food on the market. According to 46% of respondents, urban agriculture provided them with temporary and permanent job opportunities. Furthermore, 34.7% of respondents reported their land was tiny, and 65% said their land was medium-sized and utilized for farming. The results of the ordinal logistic regression model showed that major independent variables were statistically significant. These are household food security: age, family size, formal education, household head, monthly income, marital status, educational level, primary source of income, farming experience, land access, and market access. Given the prevalence of food insecurity among households involved in urban agriculture, more specific extension assistance and intensification of various forms of urban agriculture are required. The respondent addressed the primary issue during the FGD and KII interview times, which is input supply. In particular, animal feeds and fertilizers are the primary source of the issue; as such, state institutions must support and intervene.
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Keywords
Addis Ababa city, Food security, Ordinal logistic regression, urban agriculture