Dimensions of Food Insecurity and Adoption of Soil Conservation Technology in Rural Areas of Gursum District, Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

     Defining food security in terms of availability and access to sufficient food to meet dietary needs for a productive and healthy life, this paper assessed the dimensions of food insecurity and its association with the adoption of soil conservation technologies in the Gursum district of Eastern Ethiopia. Stratified random sampling was employed to select 280 rural households, from which primary data were acquired by means of structured questionnaires. This study applied the Foster, Greer and Thorbecke (FGT) model, which was originally developed for poverty analysis, to examine the incidence of food insecurity, and the food insecurity gap and severity of food insecurity. Sixty seven percent of the total sampled households adopted structural soil conservation measures. Of those who were adopters, 43 percent and 57 percent undertook traditional and introduced soil conservation measures, respectively. The results indicated that almost 66 percent of the sampled households were food insecure during the survey period, with the food insecurity gap and severity of food insecurity being 27 and 14 percent, respectively. Moreover, food insecurity was also found to be significantly higher in households that were non-adopters of soil conservation measures.