CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND DETERMINANTS OF HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY: THE CASE OF MIRAB BADAWACHO WOREDA, HADIYA ZONE SNNPR, ETHIOPIA

Ethiopia is one of the most vulnerable countries of the world to the impacts of climate change and variability. However, this study took Mirab Badawacho woreda as a case and analyzed changes in local climate; status of household food security; and household level determinants of food security. Qualitative and quantitative methodologies have been employed. Socio-economic data were collected from three rural Kebeles of Mirab Badawacho Woreda. A total of 281 sample households were selected from three kebeles through systematic random sampling by probability proportional to size sampling technique. Twenty five years climate data were collected from National Meteorological Agency of Hawassa branch. INSTAT+3.37 version software and Mann-Kendall trend test was employed to process the data. The results of the study revealed that the annual mean temperature over Mirab Badawacho Woreda was 21.40C, showing an increasing trend by 1.75 0C/year and average annual rainfall was 1253mm/year, showing a decreasing trends by 13mm/year in the last twenty five years. The mean annual maximum and minimum temperature in the study area was 26.20C and 13.40C, respectively. Moreover, the Household food balance model showed high prevalence of food insecurity in the study area of which 56.9% were food insecure and 43.1% were food secure households. The binary logit model estimation result revealed the important factors determining household food security. These are education status of household heads, health status of household heads, off farm activities, soil and water conservation, access to irrigation, drought-tolerant seeds, land ownership, and livestock ownership significantly and positively affected household food security whereas age of household heads, dependency ratio, family size and distance to the market center significantly and negatively affected household food security.