Food Security Determinants and Coping Strategies Among Rural Households in Ada'a District, Central Ethiopia

Achieving food security continues to be a persistent challenge for rural communities, even in seemingly food-secure areas such as Ada'a District, Central Ethiopia. Using a quantitative cross-sectional household survey, this study examined key determinants of multidimensional household food security and the coping mechanisms employed during food shortages in Ada'a District. Data were collected from 424 households, and a composite food security index was adapted from the World Food Programme's Consolidated Approach for Reporting Indicators of Food Security (CARI). Ordered logistic regression was used to identify determinants of food security, whereas a zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) model was used to assess factors affecting coping frequency. Twelve out of seventeen predictors were statistically significant in the food security model. Using the CARI household food security variable (1 = food secure to 4 = severely food insecure), positive associations, indicating a movement toward a greater likelihood of moderate or severe food insecurity, were observed for households headed by single individuals, with a higher proportion of children under 14 years of age, experiencing seasonal labor migration, being located farther from the farm to the main road, and reporting rainfall variability or pest and disease infestations. In contrast, negative associations, indicating a greater likelihood of being food secure or marginally food secure, were observed for households with older heads, larger farmland holdings, participation in community-based organizations, access to extension services, adoption of high-yield varieties, and access to irrigation. In the ZIP model, rainfall variability, market distance, and market price shocks increased the frequency of coping. Conversely, extension access and remittance receipt reduced coping. The logit component showed that higher income and larger farm size increased the likelihood of households avoiding coping behaviors. The findings highlight the need for integrated interventions that provide climate-smart agriculture support, improve rural market infrastructure, strengthen extension services and community organizations, and facilitate access to remittances and financial services to reduce food insecurity and reliance on negative coping strategies. This study advances food security measurement by quantitatively combining a multidimensional index with robust modeling of coping behaviors, providing nuanced insights for policy in rural Ethiopian contexts.