Household Food Insecurity in the Sidama Zone of Southern Ethiopia. Factors, coping and Adaptation Strategies

The study findings show not only the complexity of structural and local factors influencing farmers’ food insecurity but also their responses to these factors in two sites: the Fero-two Peasant Association (coffee-based farming system) in the Wensho district and the Hanja-Chafa Peasant Association (maize-based farming system) in the Boricha district of the Sidama zone. The factors causing food insecurity are economic, social, political, physical and environmental that ranging from local to national and international levels. Farmers’ adopt ex-ante and ex-post consumption and production-related adaptation strategies. However, most of the adopted strategies are short-term. A single and short-term food security intervention is little use for improving the farmers’ adaptive capacity to deal with changes. Policy interventions need better comprehend the local condition of vulnerability and farmers’ livelihood strategies, the agro-ecology, rainfall pattern and farming system to adapt sustainable agricultural practices and social protection to build resilience to adapt climate change and socio-politico-economic drivers of food insecurity.