The Link Between Food Security and Land Degradation: Analysis of Determinants in Drought Prone Areas of North East Ethiopia. A Case of Sekota Woreda

Leta, Ephrem Fufa (2008) The Link Between Food Security and Land Degradation: Analysis of Determinants in Drought Prone Areas of North East Ethiopia. A Case of Sekota Woreda. Masters thesis, Addis Ababa University.

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Abstract

Land degradation, which is mainly exhibited by soil erosion and nutrient depletion, reduces the productive capacity of the land which poses a serious threat on food security status of households. So far, various studies attempted to study the causes of land degradation and low productivity independently, and little is done on exploring the linkage between food security and land degradation. Thus, the present study was envisaged with objectives of exploring the linkages between food security and land degradation and identifying determinants of food security and coping strategies at household level in Sekota woreda. A two- stage sampling procedure was employed to select 140 sample households from six sample kebeles. The basic data used for this study were collected from sample households, focus group participants and key informants through structured questionnaire and semi-structured checklist, respectively. The survey result revealed that out of the total 138 sample households, 95 households (68.8%) were found food insecure while the remaining 43 households (31.2%) were food secure. Descriptive statistics and binary logit regression model were employed for analysis, in line with the stated objectives. The results of the study exposed that land degradation, mainly in the form of soil erosion, is the third main cause of food shortage next to shortage of farmland and rainfall variability at household level. In addition, the study results confirmed, that the pervasive land degradation is the primary cause of decline in agricultural production and subsequent food shortage at household level. This situation is further exacerbated by the rugged topography, recurrent drought and ever increasing population growth in the study area. Results of the study also identified various socio-economic and bio-physical factors that influence the food security status of households. The binary logit model results disclosed that among 19 explanatory variables included in the model, 8 were found to have significant effect on household food security status. These significant variables include age of household head, dependency ratio, size of cultivated land, total number of livestock owned (excluding oxen),number of oxen, manure application, land quality index and farmer’s knowledge on the effect of land degradation on food security. At last, the study concluded that policy makers and development agents must give attention and high priority in improving the economic access of the resource poor small scale farm households, which enable them to maintain land productivity and thus improve food security status. Moreover, due attention and policy consideration has to be given by government to those significant variables which have a potential impact in determining household food security status in the study area.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) Q Science > QE Geology S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General)
Divisions:	Africana
Depositing User:	Selom Ghislain
Date Deposited:	23 May 2018 10:56
Last Modified:	23 May 2018 10:56
URI:	http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/4057

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