Assesment of Food Security Status of Selected Livelihood Groups in Jimma Town

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.