Seasonality and food security among smallholder rural households in eastern Ethiopia: Evidence from panel data analysis

Figures & data

Figure 1. Conceptual framework of the study (Adapted from Sassi, 2018).

Table 1. Descriptive results of variables used in the econometric analysis (N = 784)

Variable	Measurement and definition	Mean (std. dev.)
Food consumption score	Food Consumption Score (FCS) at household level	45.37(21.82)
Family size*	Number of family members	6.4 (2.34)
Age of the household head*	Age of the household head in years	37.96(12.29)
Literacy of the household head*	1 if the household head is literate or 0 otherwise	0.41 (0.49)
Cell phone ownership*	1 if the household owns cell phone or 0 otherwise	0.50 (0.50)
Credit access	1 if the respondent had access to credit or 0 otherwise	0.25 (0.43)
Extension contact	1 if the respondent have access to extension services or 0 otherwise	0.83 (0.37)
Cooperative membership*	1 if the farmer is a member of a cooperative or 0 otherwise	0.20 (0.40)
Total cultivated land*	Total cultivated land measured in hectare	1.26 (0.74)
Livestock ownership	Livestock ownership measured in Tropical Livestock Unit (TLU)	2.05 (2.89)
Food group production*	Number of food groups produced (count)	2.73 (1.01)
Total Income quintile-1	Refers to household income of 600 ETB and less	100.83 (188.11)
Total Income quintile-2	Refers to household income above 600 ETB and less than or equal to 2,419.5 ETB	1517.27 (515.92)
Total Income quintile-3	Refers to household income above 2419.50 ETB and less than or equal to 4793.4 ETB	3472.88 (703.48)
Total Income quintile-4	Refers to household income above 4793.4 ETB and less than or equal to 9075 ETB	6623.64 (1239.68)
Total Income quintile-5	Refers to household income above 9075 ETB	18319.46 (11,435.47)
Housing quality*	1 if the household has access to improved housing or 0 otherwise	0.60 (0.49)
Illness of household member	1 if the respondent have at least one member is ill or 0 otherwise	0.41 (0.49)
Keeping livestock in the dwelling*	1 if the respondent keeps livestock in the dwelling or 0 otherwise	0.31 (0.47)
Access to safe drinking water (Treated)*	1 if the respondent have access to improved water or 0 otherwise	0.32 (0.47)
Season	Seasonality refers to pre-harvest and post-harvest production periods. It is given the value of 1 if the season is pre-harvest or 0 otherwise	0.49 (0.50)

*refers to variables that are time invariant

Figure 2. Proportion of households along the three food consumption score categories.

Table 2. Factors associated with seasonal household food security (N = 784)

Explanatory variables	RE-rob (std. err.)
Family size	−0.202(0 .33)
Age of household head	−0.050(0.06)
Education of household head	3.862(1.50) **
Cell phone ownership	5.786(1.56) ***
Extension contact	1.950(1.70)
Cooperative membership	4.826(1.66) ***
Credit access	−4.521(1.53) ***
Total cultivated land	3.487(1.12) ***
Livestock ownership (TLU)	0.785(0.27)***
Food group production	3.339(0.75) ***
Total Income quintile-2	1.577(1.95)
Total Income quintile-3	3.498(1.89)*
Total Income quintile-4	5.357(1.96)
Total Income quintile-5	3.943(2.33)*
Housing quality	−1.135(1.47)
Illness of household member	1.996(1.35)
Keeping livestock in the dwelling	−4.141(1.55) ***
Access to safe drinking water	5.216(1.52***)
Season	−10.808(1.43) ***
Constant	30.053(3.87) ***
rho |	0.20756606 (fraction of variance due to ui)
Wald chi2 (19)	425.12 (Prob > chi2 = 0.0000)
R-sq: Within	0.3215; Between = 0.3925; Overall = 0.3641
Hausman test chi2 (10)	11.42 (Prob>chi2 = 0.3254)
LM test chi2 (1)	14.05 (Prob > chi2 = 0.0002)

***= Significant at 1%, ** = Significant at 5% * = Significant at 10%

Sassi, M. (2018). Conceptual Frameworks for the Analysis of Food Security: Understanding Food Insecurity. Springer, Cham https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70362-6

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