Assessment of Household Food Insecurity and Associated Factors in Rural Communities of Gondar City Administration
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18034/ra.v2i2.286Keywords:
Medicine, Health, Life SciencesAbstract
Ethiopia is currently ranked 169 out of 177 countries on the 2007- 2008 Human Development Index and is chronically suffers from food insecurity. Food shortages in Ethiopia aggravate the already poor health of children and adults. Millions of households in rural areas of Ethiopia suffer from chronic food insecurity and receive food aid on an annual basis. Objective:-This study was conducted to determine prevalence of household food insecurity and its associated factors in rural communities of Gondar City Administration, North West Ethiopia. Methods:-Community based cross-sectional study design was employed. Data were collected through house to house interview using household food insecurity access scale (HFIAS) which is structured and universally applicable household food insecurity 9 item measurement tools. Descriptive statistics and logistic regressions were used to determine prevalence of household food insecurity and its associated factors. Result: - 60.8% of the rural households were found to be food insecure in the study area. Out of the total eleven variables included in the logistic regression analysis model only 6 variables namely; livestock ownership (AOR= 2.05, 95%CI = 1.039- 4.022), use of fertilizer (AOR = 4.23, 95% CI = 1.741-10.275), source of potable water (AOR = 4.00, 95% CI = 2.060-7.764), off-farm income (A0R = 2.90, 95% CI = 1.249-6.712), annual farm income (AOR = 3.98, 95% CI = 2.514-6.303) and total annual income (AOR = 3.93, 95% CI = 2.471-6.258) were found to be statistically significant. Conclusion and recommendation: - The majority (60.8%) of households in rural communities of Gondar City Administration is food insecure and factors like livestock ownership, use of fertilizers, source of potable water, off-farm income, farm income and total annual income are found to be significantly associated with household food insecurity in the study area. Thus, Government bodies, NGOs and the community at large should work cooperatively in areas that enable rural households to minimize the problem of food insecurity by overcoming factors associated with it.
Downloads
References
Human Development Report 2007/2008. United Nations Development Program; New York: 2007.
World Food Program (WFP). Nutrition Consultancy Report on WFP EMOP 6143 and EMOP 6080. Addis Ababa: WFP; 1999.
Food Security Program Monitoring and Evaluation Plan: The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Food Security Coordination Bureau; Oct.2004-Sept; 2009.
Frank E. Gender, Agricultural Development and Food Security in Amhara, Ethiopia: The Contested Identity of Women Farmers in Ethiopia USAID; 1999 Oct.
Gondar [Internet] 2011 Feb; Cited 2011 Apr 5. Available from: http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gondar.
Kaluski D, Ophir E, AmedeT. Food security and nutrition – the Ethiopian case for action; Public Health Nutrition: Telavive. 2001, 5(3), 373–381.
Stamoulis K. Food, Agriculture and Rural Development: Current and Emerging Issues for Economic Analysis and Policy Research. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; 2001.
Bogale A, Shimelis A. Household Level Determinants of Food Insecurity In Rural Areas Of Dire Dawa, Eastern Ethiopia: African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development; VOL. 9, NO. 9, 2010, PP. 1914-1926.
Food security: understanding and meeting the challenge of poverty: European Commission; Belgium, October 2009.
Habicht J, Pelto G, Frongillo E, Rose D. Conceptualization and Instrumentation of Food Insecurity. Cornell and Tulane Universities: 2004 Jul.
How to conduct a food security assessment: A step-by-step guide for National Societies in Africa. 2nd ed. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Geneva. 2006.
The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2001. FAO: Rome. 2002 pp. 4-7.
Bickel G, Nord M, Price C, Hamilton W, Cook J. Guide to Measuring Household Food Security. U.S. Department of Agriculture: Food and Nutrition Service. Alexandria VA: 2000 Mar.
Andersen P. Food security: definition and measurement. Springer Science. Jan; 1:5–7.
Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance Project. Measuring Household Food Insecurity Workshop II Report October 19, 2005. Washington, D.C., Academy for Educational Development, 2005.
Maes K, Hadley C, Tesfaye F, Shifferaw S, Tesfaye Y. Food Insecurity among Volunteer AIDS Caregivers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Was Highly Prevalent but Buffered from the 2008 Food Crisis. The Journal of Nutrition: the American Society for Nutrition.2009 Jul.
The State of Food Insecurity in the World. Addressing food insecurity in protracted crises: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Rome; 2010.
Nelson M, Erens B, Bates B, Church S, Boshier T. Low Income Diet and Nutrition Survey. London: Food Standards Agency; 2007.
Ministry of Health. NZ Food: NZ Children: Key Results of the 2002 National Children's Nutrition Survey. Wellington: Ministry of Health; 2003.
Nord M , Hooper M, Hopwood H. 'Household-Level Income-Related Food Insecurity is Less Prevalent in Canada than in the United States', Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition, 2008; 3: 1, 17 — 35.
Nord M, Andrews M, Carlson S. Household Food Security in the United States, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service; 2009.
Gopichandran V, Claudius P, Baby LS, Felinda A, Mohan VR. Household food security in urban Tamil Nadu: a survey in Vellore. Tamil Nadu, India. Natl Med J India. 2010 Sep-Oct; 23(5):278-80.
Hadley C, Patil C. Food Insecurity in Rural Tanezania Is Associated with Maternal Anxiety and Depression. American Journal of Human Biology; 2006; 359–368.
Emergency Food Security Assessment in Rural Areas of Tajikistan: A Joint Food Security, Livelihoods, Agriculture and Nutrition Assessment. WFP, FAO, UNICEF and Government of Tajikistan; 2008 April/May.
Schmidt E, Dorosh P. A Sub-National Food Security Index for Ethiopia: Assessing Progress in Region-Level Outcomes. International Food Policy Research Institute – Ethiopia Strategy Support Program; 2009 Oct.
Seid F. Food Insecurity and Its Determinants in Rural Households in Amhara Region. FBAE, Addis Ababa University. Accessed at www.edri.org.et/december Feb.
Shimelis A, Bogale A. Dimensions of food insecurity and livelihood strategies among rural households in Dire Dawa, eastern Ethiopia. InterScience Wiley; Tropical Science; 2007 Jun 27; 47(2), 73–80.
Tsegaye G, Bekele W. Farmers‘ perceptions of land degradation and determinants of food security at Bilate Watershed, Southern Ethiopia. EJAST; Nov; 1(1): 49-62.
Belachew T, Hadley C, Lindstrom D, Gebremariam A, Wolde Michael K, Getachew Y, et.al. Gender Differences in Food Insecurity and Morbidity Among Adolescents in Southwest Ethiopia. American Academy of Pediatrics. Illinois. Jan 10, 2011; DOI: 10.1542/peds.2010-0944.
Community-Based Sub-Component of Ethiopian National Nutrition Program. Baseline Survey Report. Addis Continental Institute of Public Health; 2009 Dec; p 1-80.
Food Insecurity Persists in Sub-Saharan Africa despite Efforts to Halve Hunger by 2015. United States Government Accountability Office. Washington, DC. Jul.
Adenegan K, Adewusi O. Determinants of Food Security Status of Rural Households Living With HIV/AIDS in Southwestern Nigeria. African Journal of Biomedical Research. 2007 Vol. 10; 9 – 18.
Brown B, Noonan C, Nord M. Prevalence of Food Insecurity and Health Associated Outcomes and Food Characteristics of Northern Plains Indian Households. Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition. 2007; 1(4): 37–53.
Iberg J, Yaro J. An assessment of the extent and causes of food insecurity in Northern Ghana using a livelihood vulnerability framework. GeoJournal; 2006 Oct. 67;41–55.
Omotesho O, Adewumi M, Lawal A, Ayinde O. Determinants of Food Security Among The Rural Farming Households in Kwara State, Nigeria. African Journal of General Agriculture; 2006 June; vol. 2. No 1.
Impact of USAID/FFP-Funded programs on small holder household food security in Burkina Faso. West African Regional Food for Peace Office; USAID/West African Professional Paper Series; 2009 March; Ser.N0.7.
Penh P. Strategic Framework for Food Security and Nutrition in Cambodia -2012. Prepared by the CARD in consultation with TWG-FSN; 2008 May.
Food security strategy. Government of the state of Eritrea. Asmara. 2004 Apr.
Kidane H, Alemu ZG, Kundhlande G. Causes of Household Food Insecurity in Koredegaga Peasant Association, Oromiya Zone, Ethiopia. Agrekon; 2005; 44: 543-560.
Abebaw S. Dimension and determinants of food insecurity among rural households in Dire Dawa, Eastern Ethiopia. MSc thesis presented to the School of Graduate Studies of Alemaya University; 2003; 112-118.
Position of the American Dietetic Association: Food Insecurity and Hunger in the United States. Journal of The American Dietetic Association; 2006; 106:446-458.
El-Sayed A, Hadley C, Tessema F, Tegegn A, Cowan J, Galea S. Household food insecurity and symptoms of neurologic disorder in Ethiopia: An observational analysis; BMC Public Health; Columbia University, New York, NY, USA;2010.
Alaimo K, Olson CM, Frongillo EA. Food insufficiency and American schoolaged children‘s cognitive academic and psycho-social development. Pediatrics; 108:44-53.
Ashiabi G. Household food insecurity and children's school engagement. Journal of Children and Poverty; 2005; 11: 1, 3 — 17.
Food Security Information for Action: Food Security Concepts and Frameworks. Food Security Analysis. FAO; 2008.
Swindale A, Bilinsky P. Development of a Universally Applicable Household Food Insecurity Measurement Tool: Process, Current Status, and Outstanding Issues: American Society for Nutrition; 2006.
Coates J, Swindale A, Bilinsky P. Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) for Measurement of Food Access: Indicator Guide VERSION 3. 2007 Aug.
--0--
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
ABC Research Alert is an Open Access journal. Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of their work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal. We require authors to inform us of any instances of re-publication.
