Dinku Amare Molla, Mekonnen Tefera Chane, Adilu Getachew Shumye
Development Studies, Department of Rural Development and Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia.
Public Health, Department of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Public Health, Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia.
Heliyon. 2023 Mar 11;9(3):e14482. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e14482. eCollection 2023 Mar.
In Ethiopia, food security and vulnerability assessments have traditionally focused on rural areas. Recently, the issue of urban food security has been attracting attention in global policy debates. However, limited studies are found in the study areas that link food insecurity with major food market chains in the urban food system settings. This study is therefore, aimed at measuring the status of food insecurity in the urban food systems. A mixed study design has been used with randomly selected 506 resident households in Dessie and Combolcha cities, of north-central Ethiopia. We used a pre-tested, semi-structured survey questionnaire to collect quantitative data. The qualitative data has been collected with key informant interview, and focus group discussion among food system actors and facilitators in the selected commodities. We applied Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) to measure the food security status and narration and summarization techniques to analyze the qualitative data. The study confirmed that 33.1% of the respondents were food insecure. Moreover, nine and six individuals per 100 people were forced to 'sleep hungry' and 'not eat in the whole day and night' respectively. Households' food insecurity was significantly associated with the gender of the household head, participation in casual labor, and living house ownership. The degree of food insecurity was deemed to be higher due to weak food system governance, an inconsistent food supply chain, and socio-economic and gender inequalities. However, both formal and informal food systems have their own unique qualities and maximum food security benefit can be achieved if they are well integrated. This implies food security intervention in urban areas needs to refocus their strategies towards systematic and integrated approaches that can promote social security programs like: urban housing, job security, urban agriculture and inclusive food safety net programs. Moreover, multidimensional studies are still important to obtain a wider picture of sustainable urban food security in urban areas and to better integrate the formal and informal food systems.
在埃塞俄比亚，粮食安全和脆弱性评估传统上一直侧重于农村地区。最近，城市粮食安全问题在全球政策辩论中受到关注。然而，在研究区域内，将粮食不安全与城市粮食系统环境中的主要粮食市场链联系起来的研究有限。因此，本研究旨在衡量城市粮食系统中粮食不安全的状况。研究采用了混合研究设计，在埃塞俄比亚中北部的德西和科姆博尔查市随机选取了506户居民家庭。我们使用预先测试的半结构化调查问卷收集定量数据。定性数据通过关键信息访谈以及选定商品的粮食系统参与者和促进者之间的焦点小组讨论收集。我们应用家庭粮食不安全获取量表（HFIAS）来衡量粮食安全状况，并采用叙述和总结技术来分析定性数据。研究证实，33.1%的受访者粮食不安全。此外，每100人中分别有9人和6人被迫“饿着睡觉”和“整日整夜不吃东西”。家庭粮食不安全与户主性别、参与临时劳动以及自有住房显著相关。由于粮食系统治理薄弱、供应链不一致以及社会经济和性别不平等，粮食不安全程度被认为较高。然而，正规和非正规粮食系统都有其独特的特点，如果能很好地整合，就能实现最大的粮食安全效益。这意味着城市地区的粮食安全干预需要将其战略重新聚焦于系统和综合的方法，这些方法可以促进诸如城市住房、就业保障、城市农业和包容性食品安全网计划等社会保障项目。此外，多维研究对于更全面地了解城市地区可持续的城市粮食安全以及更好地整合正规和非正规粮食系统仍然很重要。
