Socioeconomic Determinants of Food Insecurity Among Rural Households in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia

The major aim of this study was to assess the socioeconomic determinants of food insecurity among rural households in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia. Data for the study was obtained from 168 randomly selected rural households by using an interview schedule. To select sample respondents, the multi-stage sampling technique was used. The Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) index and binary logistic regression model were used for data analysis. The finding from FGT index showed that about 66.1 percent of households in the study area were found food insecure and the remaining 33.9 percent were found food secure. The depth and severity of food insecurity were found 15 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively. The logistic regression model result revealed that factors such as land size, income from productive safety net program, credit access, farm income, and non-farm income are the statistically significant factors influencing the households’ food insecurity status. Accordingly, access to credit positively affects households’ food insecurity status, whereas the other significant variables affect it negatively. Consequently, improving productivity of land through better production methods, increasing farmers’ participation in safety net programs, Promoting income diversification, Revising credit repayment policies and promoting rural off-farm employment opportunities are suggested to improve the state of food insecurity in the study area.