TY - JOUR
T1 - Food Insecurity in Farta District, Northwest Ethiopia
T2 - A community based cross-sectional study
AU - Endale, Worku
AU - Mengesha, Zelalem Birhanu
AU - Atinafu, Azeb
AU - Adane, Akilew Awoke
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are very grateful to the University of Gondar for technical and financial support of this study. We also extend our heartfelt thanks to study participants and data collectors.
PY - 2014/3/7
Y1 - 2014/3/7
N2 - Background: Access to sufficient food is essential for household welfare as well as for accomplishing other development activities. Households with insufficient access to food often face other challenges related to food insecurity including poor health and a decline in productivity. These challenges can often create a vicious circle whereby households are unable to produce enough food even during a good crop season. Thus, this study aimed to determine the magnitude of food insecurity and its determinants in rural households of Farta District, Northwest Ethiopia. Methods. A community based cross-sectional study was conducted from September to October 2012. Household heads were recruited using a multistage random sampling technique. Data were collected by face-to-face interviews using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) tool after verbal informed consent. Data were entered to Epi info 2002 and exported to SPSS version 16 for analysis. Multiple logistic regressions were fitted and odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were calculated to identify associated factors and control confounding effect. Results: A total of 836 households were included in this study. Nearly three quarters of the households (70.7%) had food insecurity. Households headed by females (AOR = 3.18, 95% CI:1.08, 15.21), lack of education (AOR = 2.59, 95% CI: 1.46, 4.60), family size of 4-7 (AOR = 2.39, 95% CI: 1.21,4.70), family size of >7 (AOR = 13.23,95% CI:6.18, 28.32), few or absence of livestock (AOR = 5.60, 95% CI:1.28, 24.43), absence of income from off-farm activities (AOR = 3.12, 95% CI:1.53, 6.36), lack of irrigation (AOR = 3.54, 95% CI:2.14, 5.18) and lack of perennial income (AOR = 3.15, 95% CI:1.88, 5.27) were factors associated with food insecurity. Conclusions: This study revealed that most households of the district were food insecure. Hence, the promotion of contraceptive use, off-farm employment activities and the development of small scale irrigation are important recommendations to reduce food insecurity.
AB - Background: Access to sufficient food is essential for household welfare as well as for accomplishing other development activities. Households with insufficient access to food often face other challenges related to food insecurity including poor health and a decline in productivity. These challenges can often create a vicious circle whereby households are unable to produce enough food even during a good crop season. Thus, this study aimed to determine the magnitude of food insecurity and its determinants in rural households of Farta District, Northwest Ethiopia. Methods. A community based cross-sectional study was conducted from September to October 2012. Household heads were recruited using a multistage random sampling technique. Data were collected by face-to-face interviews using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) tool after verbal informed consent. Data were entered to Epi info 2002 and exported to SPSS version 16 for analysis. Multiple logistic regressions were fitted and odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were calculated to identify associated factors and control confounding effect. Results: A total of 836 households were included in this study. Nearly three quarters of the households (70.7%) had food insecurity. Households headed by females (AOR = 3.18, 95% CI:1.08, 15.21), lack of education (AOR = 2.59, 95% CI: 1.46, 4.60), family size of 4-7 (AOR = 2.39, 95% CI: 1.21,4.70), family size of >7 (AOR = 13.23,95% CI:6.18, 28.32), few or absence of livestock (AOR = 5.60, 95% CI:1.28, 24.43), absence of income from off-farm activities (AOR = 3.12, 95% CI:1.53, 6.36), lack of irrigation (AOR = 3.54, 95% CI:2.14, 5.18) and lack of perennial income (AOR = 3.15, 95% CI:1.88, 5.27) were factors associated with food insecurity. Conclusions: This study revealed that most households of the district were food insecure. Hence, the promotion of contraceptive use, off-farm employment activities and the development of small scale irrigation are important recommendations to reduce food insecurity.
KW - Food insecurity
KW - Northwest Ethiopia
KW - Prevalence
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84898548077&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/1756-0500-7-130
DO - 10.1186/1756-0500-7-130
M3 - Article
C2 - 24606757
AN - SCOPUS:84898548077
SN - 1756-0500
VL - 7
JO - BMC Research Notes
JF - BMC Research Notes
IS - 1
M1 - 130
ER -
