Browsing by Author "Sileshi, Million"

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Analysis of households’ vulnerability to food insecurity and its influencing factors in East Hararghe, Ethiopia
(Springer, 2019) Sileshi, Million; Kadigi, Reuben; Mutabazi, Khamaldin; Sieber, Stefan
Previous studies on food insecurity in many developing countries, including Ethiopia, have mainly focused on current food insecurity, lacking the ex-ante analysis. An under- standing of household vulnerability to food insecurity is critically important to inform the formulation of policies and strategies to enhance food security and reduce vulner- ability to food insecurity among smallholder farmers. This paper analyses vulnerability to food insecurity of farming households using the vulnerability as expected poverty (VEP) approach. The paper is based on cross-section data collected from a sample of 408 households in East Hararghe, Ethiopia, selected using a multi-stage sampling procedure. The factors which influenced vulnerability to food insecurity were analyzed using the Feasible General Least Squares regression model. The results of analysis indicate that vulnerability to food insecurity increased with the age of household head (P < 0.1), and family size (P < 0.01). It decreased with access to improved seeds (P < 0.01), adoption of soil and water conservation (P < 0.01), size of cultivated land (P < 0.1), and access to credits (P < 0.1). Based on the intensity of their vulnerability, households were grouped as chronic food insecure (24.27%), transient food insecure (11.77%), highly vul- nerable-food secure (18.38%), and low vulnerable-food secure (45.59%). Overall, about 54% of households were categorized as vulnerable to food insecurity. These included households who were food insecure at the time of the survey (36.02%) and those who were categorized as transient food secure group (18.38%). These findings imply that food insecurity policies and interventions in developing countries should focus not only on households that are currently food insecure, but also on those categorized as transient food insecure or households that are more likely to be food insecure in the near future.
Determinants for adoption of physical soil and water conservation measures by smallholder farmers in Ethiopia
(ScienceDirect, 2019) Sileshi, Million; Kadigi, Reuben; Mutabazi, Khamaldin; Sieber, Stefan
Adoption rates of soil and water conservation measures remain below the expected levels in Ethiopia despite the considerable investments in reducing land degradation and improving soil fertility. This constitutes one of the key research agendas in the country. This paper underscores the need for inves- tigating the factors hindering or facilitating the adoption of soil and water conservation measures. The study results presented in this paper are based on cross-section data collected from 408 households in eastern Ethiopia, including field observations of 790 plots selected using a multi-stage sampling pro- cedure. A multivariate probit model was employed to analyse the determinants of adoption of three soil and water conservation measures (stone bund, soil bund, and bench terracing) at the plot level. The study findings reveal that household, socioeconomic, and institution characteristics were the key factors that influenced the adoption of soil bund, stone bund, and bench terracing conservation measures. Furthermore, there was a significant correlation among the three soil and water conservation measures, indicating that the adoption of these measures is interrelated. In particular, the results show that there was a positive correlation between stone bunds and soil bunds. However, the correlations between bench terracing and stone bunds as well as bench terracing and soil bunds were negative (implying substitutability). These results imply that the Government and other relevant organizations that are responsible for reducing land degradation in order to increase agricultural production should support the establishment and strengthening of local institutions to facilitate the adoption of soil and water con- servation measures.
Impact of soil and water conservation practices on household vulnerability to food insecurity in eastern Ethiopia: endogenous switching regression and propensity score matching approach
(Springer, 2019) Sileshi, Million; Kadigi, Reuben; Mutabazi, Khamaldin; Sieber, Stefan
Governmental and developmental partners invest substantial resources to reduce land and water degradation in order to upgrade agricultural productivity, thus reducing food insecurity and related vulnerability in Sub-Saharan Africa. Understanding the impact of soil and water conservation on food insecurity outcomes would be a significant step toward improving environmental conditions, while ensuring sustainable and increased agricultural production. Therefore, this article analyzes the impact of adopting soil and water conservation on food insecurity and related vulnerability outcomes of farming households using a sample of 408 households selected using a multi-stage stratified sampling procedure from three districts in eastern Ethiopia. Vulnerability as expected poverty (three-step Feasible General Least Squares) is employed to analyze the vulnerability of sample households in the context of food insecurity. In addition, endogenous switching regressions with propensity score matching methods are combined to obtain consistent impact estimates. The study findings reveal that education and sex of household head, use of irrigation and fertilizer, source of information, and cultivated land are the main factors influencing the adoption of soil and water conservation practices. Moreover, the adoption of soil and water conservation not only positively impacts the per capita food consumption expenditure and net crop value, but it also significantly reduces the probability of farmers being food insecure, vulnerable to food insecurity, as well as being transient and chronically food insecure. Therefore, policymakers and development organizations should consider soil and water conservation as a main strategy to reduce land degradation and improve the livelihoods of the rural farm households.