Abstract:
Chronic food insecurity is one of the main problems which affected millions of Ethiopians for
centuries. To solve this problem, the government of Ethiopia has been undertaking different
programs incluiding Productive Safety Net Program. This study was conducted to evaluate
the impact of productive safety net program on households’ food security and asset building
in Misha Woreda of Hadiya Zone, Southern Nations Nationalities and People’s region,
Ethiopia. It was intended to identify the factors affecting participation in productive safety net
program and evaluate impacts of Productive Safety Net program on household food security
and asset building. A two stage sampling technique was employed to select 155 households
from four kebeles. Both primary and secondary data sources were used in the study. Primary
data was collected from household heads through semi-structured interview schedule. In
addition, data collected from different secondary sources were used. Data was analysed by
using both descriptive statistics and Propensity Score matching method. Results from
descriptive statistics indicated that program beneficiary households’ asset and dietary
diversity intake have increased due to program participation. The logistic regression
estimation of Propensity Score Matching result showed that age of household, dependency
ratio, education level, land size, off/non-farm income, sex of household head, and livestock
ownership were the variables that significantly affected the participation of households in
Productive Safety Net Program. Furthermore, the impact estimation result showed that, the
program intervention had positive and significant impact on household food security and
asset building as participating households’ dietary diversity intake on average increased by
31% and the asset increased by 38%. Thus, the study suggests that the program should be
encouraged by the government and other concerned bodies’ inorder to benefit other nonparticipant resource poor households in future
