Assessment of urban poverty using food energy intake approach: the case of bonga town

Abstract

Addressing poverty has been an important component of the MDGs as declared by the heads of states at the Millennium Summit in September 2000 that set out goals and targets to be met by the year 2015.The major aim of this study was to assess the determinants of urban poverty in Bonga town. Data for the study was obtained from 202 household heads by using structured questionnaire. To select sample respondents, the stratified sampling technique was used. The adapted FGT index and binary logit model were used for data analysis. By making use of Food Energy Intake (FEI) approach the surveyed households are identified as the poor and nonpoor.The finding from FGT index revealed that 67.5 percent of households in the study area were found poor. The depth and severity index of the survey were found 0.95 and 0.90, respectively.The logistic regression model result showed that factors such as household size,educational level and occupation of women were found significant factors influencing households’ incidence of poverty. The incidence of poverty is rampant among the surveyed households which calls for urgent interventions aimed at curbing the fate of the poor.