Farmers’ food insecurity coping strategies in the Sidama region of southern Ethiopia

ABSTRACT

The article provides evidence of farmers’ food insecurity coping strategies using interviews and household questionnaire methods. Data show that 28% in the Fero-two Peasant Association (PA) and 24% in the Hanja-Chafa PA were severely food insecure. In the respective places 26% and 37% were moderately food insecure and 46% and 40% were food secure. Farmers adopted different consumption-related and other coping strategies to food insecurity originating from social, economic, political, and environmental factors. The findings suggest that policymakers should consider the local features of a given place in designing place-specific policy interventions and resilient adaptation strategies to achieve long-term food security.

KEYWORDS:

• food insecurity
• coping strategies
• place-specific policy
• resilience
• Boricha
• Wensho
• southern Ethiopia

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund for financial grant to study Ph.D. in Norway and the Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, for additional financial support for fieldworks.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Amicho is a young enset plant, which is boiled and eaten during annual food shortages.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund and the Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo [grant number: Ph.D. Fellowship].

Notes on contributors

Gezahegn Abebe

Gezahegn Abebe has a Ph.D. in Human Geography and M.Phil. in Development Geography from the Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Norway. He is an Assistant Professor at Department of Geography, Addis Ababa University. His has written on development challenges – urban and rural; agriculture and food security; poverty and inequality; and climate change adaptation.