Impact of Livelihood Diversification on Rural Households' Food Security in Fedis Weroda, Eastern Hararge Zone, Oromiya Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

Most rural populations in Africa have been suffering from poverty and environmental degradation. African's diversify their livelihood strategies to mitigate risks. This study presents the impact of livelihood diversification on rural household food security, Moreover, the study identified livelihood activities employed by households, determine food security status of households and also identify determinants of livelihood diversification. The study employed a two stage random sampling procedure. 180 sample households were used for the study. Mean, percentage, frequencies, t-test chi-square test and an econometric model of PSM were used for analysis.  The study found that in the study area households practice different activities in addition to agriculture. The most commons are pity trade (shops, large animal trading, chat retailing, charcoal sell and ground nut retailing) and local wage labor. The study also found that among the total households 61.2% were found to be food secure and 38.8% of them food insecure. Moreover, food secure and insecure households shows a significant mean difference with respect to age of the household head, education year of the household head ,number of times the household received extension service in a year and participation in productive safety net program. The descriptive statistics for diversified and not diversified households shows that the two groups had a significant mean difference with respect to education year of the household head, number of times the household received extension service in a year, participation in productive safety net program and calorie intake by the household members in adult equivalent. The logistic regression model also shows that education year of the household head, membership to cooperatives, number of times the household received extension service in a year and participation in productive safety net program significantly affect diversification. Results from propensity score matching shows that livelihood diversification brought a positive impact on households' food security by showing that the mean difference in calorie intake is significant at less than 1% probability level.The study concluded that livelihood diversification can have a positive impact on rural households' food security. Therefore it is advisable to encourage rural households' participation in different activities in addition to agriculture.

Keywords: livelihood diversification, food security, propensity score matching