FOOD SECURITY IN ETHIOPIA

Transitory and chronic food insecurity is the trade- mark of Ethiopia. In this regard, considerable studies treat food security and human vulnerability problems of the country mainly through food availability decline approach and livelihood perspectives. This paper attempts to explore the intensity and extent of actions undertaken, and must have been taken, to alleviate the problem of food insecurity and vulnerability in West Bäläsa Wäräda, through entitlement approach. In doing so, the finding of study revealed that West Bäläsa's food insecurity mainly caused by constrained access to agriculture land, productive assets, labour and market uncertainties, and population pressure against the annual production, vulnerability to natural calamities and other shocks. But, the interventions employed to alleviate the problem were partially successful. This was due to the negative and distorted perception of the society and the failure of some institutional programs. This study, therefore,concluded that both direct and trade entitlement failures were attributed to West Bäläsa's food insecurity and vulnerability.