Small holder farmers coping strategies to household food insecurity and hunger in Southern Ethiopia
Abstract This study has aimed at examining the small holder farmers’ coping strategies to sustained household food insecurity and hunger in Southern Ethiopia (Sidama Zone). In order to collect the required input data, a comprehensive interview schedule was developed. The data were collected from 614 households who were selected through two-stage probability sampling technique. The association of each predicting variable and the dependent variable (coping strategies), controlling for all confounding factors, was examined using the multivariate analysis. The result revealed that about 54% of the households were facing mild to severe food insecurity, and of which, about 19% fall in household hunger category (as measured by Household Hunger Scale) for more than six months of the year. The study further showed that households in the study area employ a range of coping strategies to respond to the high and sustained food insecurity and hunger, ranging from minimizing the number of meals a