Conflict and Food Insecurity: The Man-made Famine in Tigrai-Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of war on food insecurity in Tigrai using data of 2481 households. The calorie intake approach and the Integrated Food Insecurity Phase Classification (IPC) were applied to measure the level of food insecurity and classify the phases. The logistic regression model was applied to identify the factors affecting food insecurity in Tigrai. The empirical result revealed that 77.38 % of the households are food insecure with calorie deficiency gap of 33.68 % and 69.21 % of them are classified in crisis phase and above. The war has caused the level food insecurity and share of crisis phase and above to upsurge by 153.8 % and 49.7%, respectively. Food insecurity in Tigrai is determined by the recurrent conflict, price of commonly consumable cereals, and age of the head, family size, supports (aid) and access to electricity and financial services. During the war households mitigate the shortage of food by reducing the quality and quantity of food they consume, sell of livestock & assets, use their savings, food supports from family, NGOs and government, ate inedible green leaves, migrating to other neighboring villages and towns for search of food and participating in begging.

Keywords: Conflict, food insecurity, IPC, logistic regression, Tigrai, War

JEL: I30, I32, I38, P46

DOI: 10.7176/JESD/14-11-02

Publication date:June 30^th 2023