Rural households food security and livelihood strategies: The case of Offa woreda, in wolaita Sodo Zuria, southern nation, nationalities and peoples regional state, Ethiopia

The objectives of the study were to identify the contributions of livelihood strategies to rural household food security and to examine household food security status in the study area. In the study multi-stage sampling techniques were used to select 5 kebeles and 140 sample households out of 23 kebeles of the study area. Primary data were collected through structured interview schedule, Key Informants Interview, Focus Group-Discussions and Direct Observation. Various documents were reviewed to collect the secondary data. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, percentage, and frequency distribution were used to describe the socio economic characteristics of the sample households. In addition, t-tests and chi-square tests were used to compare food secure and insecure sample groups with respect to the explanatory variables. A binary logit model was used to analyze the data. The findings of the study revealed that about 57% of the rural households were food insecure and 43% were food secure. A total of sixteen explanatory variables were included in the model. Out of these, eleven were found to be statistically significant and most of the coefficients of these variables exhibited the expected signs with the hypothesis. These variables includes Education level of household head, Access to credit, Total cultivated land, Household active labor forces, Household members participation into income generating activities, Participation in rural institutions, Participation in off-farm activities, Dependency ratio, Participation in non-farm activities, Frequency to extension contact and Livestock rearing. The estimated model correctly predicted 92.1% of the total sample households. To estimate the extent of food insecurity FGT index was used. Accordingly, the incidence of food insecurity, food insecurity gap and severity of food insecurity were found to be 57%, 24% and 11.67%, respectively. The livelihood strategies of the rural households were also found to be diversification and integration of activities, and migration is also adopted when the shock to their livelihood becomes very serious.