Household food insecurity and hunger among households in Sidama district, southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Objective: To examine household food insecurity and hunger in Sidama Zone,

one of the most populous zones in southern Ethiopia.

Design: Cross-sectional survey administered individually by trained interviewers.

Food insecurity was calculated with both the Household Food Insecurity Access

Scale (HFIAS) and the Household Hunger Scale (HHS), developed by the Food

and Nutrition Technical Assistance Project.

Setting: Rural households from ten kebeles (the smallest administrative district)

selected from two agro-climatic zones in Sidama, southern Ethiopia, from December

2010 to January 2011.

Subjects: Men and women respondents from 1094 rural households were selected

using multistage sampling techniques.

Results: Using the HFIAS, 17?7 % of households were food secure. The percentage of

households that were mildly, moderately and severely food insecure was 6?8 %,

27?7 % and 47?8 %, respectively. Using the HHS, 29?0 % and 5?6 % of households

fell into the moderate and severe household hunger categories. Using multivariate

statistical techniques, five variables were significant predictors of both food insecurity

and hunger. These variables were migration of a household member, agro-climatic

zone, and younger age, less education and lower radio access for the woman. Being

eligible for safety-net credit programmes also was a predictor of hunger, while limited

animal ownership and household wealth as well as alcohol use by the household

head added to the prediction of food insecurity.

Conclusions: The study documented that food insecurity is a major concern of

smallholder farming households in the study area. A substantial majority of the

households were facing mild to severe food insecurity and hunger for an extended

period of time.
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