Abstract:
The main objective of the study was to assess the status of household food security of
three livelihood groups in Jimma town since livelihood approach is a practical tool for the
analysis of household food security. The research was comparative survey among
households of three selected livelihood groups namely urban agriculture, small trade and
manufacture. Multi stage mixed sampling procedure was used to draw 98 sample from
selected livelihood groups. Both primary and secondary data were collected for this study.
Primary data were collected through formal survey using semi structured interview
schedule, key informant interview and focus group discussion; whereas, secondary data
were collected from micro and small scale bureau of Jimma town, central statistical
agency bureau and internet. The collected data were analayzed using SPSS version 22.0.
Household food security was measured by employing household caloric acquisition based
on minimum requirement. Accordingly, 29.6% and 70.4% of the respondents were found to
be food insecure and secure, respectively.To adress the objective of the study, binary logit
and FGT model were used. Among 11 variables included in to the model, household size,
access to technology, dependency ratio and income of the household were found to be
significant. Food insecure households cope food shortage through reducing quantity and
frequency of meal, shifting to cheaper food items, borrowing from relatives, selling
existing assets and searching additional daily work. Thus, designing and implementing
different interventions with respect to significant variables is very important to alleviate
the problem of food insecurity in each sectors in Jimma town.
