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Roles of Rural Women in Livelihood and Sustainable Food Security in Ethiopia: A Case Study from Delanta Dawunt District, North Wollo Zone

Received: 1 April 2015     Accepted: 22 April 2015     Published: 6 May 2015
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Abstract

This study was conducted at Delanta Dawunt District, which was characterized by high population density, recurrent drought and food insecurity. By so doing, it has assessed the various ranges of activities that are performed by women and identified the overall problems encountered by women. To these end, attempts have been made by rural women to identify their roles in livelihood and sustainable food security in Ethiopia in general and the Delanta Dawunt District in particular. The study was conducted by taking four sampled rural local districts from a total of 44 local districts. Household surveys were made by taking 160 women and 40 men. The interviewees were selected using stratified random sampling technique in 50 households from each local district. The data were analyzed using percentage, mean score, cumulative frequency and Chi-Square tests. As the results shown, women were more participating in a wide range of poverty alleviation. They were food producers and providers in Delanta Dawunt District. Despite their fundamental roles in agricultural sectors and sustainable food security, women have been marginalized for so long. Among the total respondents, about 85, 80, 71 and 54 % of the respondents stated that women were more venerable for quality and quantity of food, water, health services and fuel wood, respectively and 65% of adults (women) ate twice per day (mornings and evenings). This occurred under the normal and good harvesting seasons. In terms of agro-ecology, two meals per day were more common in Woina Dega (72%), Dega (70%) and Kolla (46%). In general, women have limited access of dietary composition of nutritional meals in the study area. Among the crop production activities, storage preparation (92%) and storing processes (83%) were mainly performed by women, weeding, harvesting and post-harvesting, and threshing field preparation tasks shared equally with men by 53, 50 and 83%, respectively. With respect to livestock management, women have taken a lion’s share. Of the livestock management tasks, milk processing 83%), caring of new borne animals (52%) and barn cleaning (63%), and almost all the household duties were predominantly performed by women. Women have also limited access of agricultural products, credit facilities, skill training, education, extension services and information. To strengthen and develop women involvement in livelihood and sustainable food security all concerned bodies should take appropriate measures to empower women’s in education and training. The packages of development including improvements in income, health, nutrition and education should be addressed women’s.

Published in International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences (Volume 4, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20150403.22
Page(s) 343-355
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Food Security; Livelihood; Local District; Poverty Alleviation; Sustainable

References
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[6] DFID (British Department for International Development). (2002). Sustainable urbanization: Achieving Agenda 21. UN Habitat and Department for International Development Publishers.
[7] FAO. (1987). Women in Africa food production and food security. In: Gittenger J. Price et al (eds.). Food Policy Integrating Supply, Distribution and Consumption. London and Baltimore: Hopkins University Press.
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[9] Zenebework, T. (2003). Women and land right in third world: The case of ethiopia. In: Wanyeki, L. Muthoni (ed.). Women and land in Africa: Culture, religion realizing women's rights. London and New York: Zed Books Ltd.
[10] Stockard, J. (1997). Sociology: Discovering society. USA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
[11] Mulunesh, W.M. (2001). Gender sustainable livelihood and food security in rural Ethiopia. In: YaredAmare (ed.). Food security and sustainable livelihood in Ethiopia. Proceedings of the Symposium of the Forum for Social Studies, Addis Ababa, March 10-11, 2000.
[12] Tesfaye, Z. and Debeb, H. (1995). Food security: A situation analysis. In: Mulate D. et al (eds.). Food security, nutrition, and poverty alleviation in Ethiopia: Problems and Prospect. Proceedings of the Inaugural and First Annual Conference of the Agricultural Economics Society of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, 8-9 June.
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  • APA Style

    Nahusenay A., Tessfaye T. (2015). Roles of Rural Women in Livelihood and Sustainable Food Security in Ethiopia: A Case Study from Delanta Dawunt District, North Wollo Zone. International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences, 4(3), 343-355. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnfs.20150403.22

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    ACS Style

    Nahusenay A.; Tessfaye T. Roles of Rural Women in Livelihood and Sustainable Food Security in Ethiopia: A Case Study from Delanta Dawunt District, North Wollo Zone. Int. J. Nutr. Food Sci. 2015, 4(3), 343-355. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20150403.22

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    AMA Style

    Nahusenay A., Tessfaye T. Roles of Rural Women in Livelihood and Sustainable Food Security in Ethiopia: A Case Study from Delanta Dawunt District, North Wollo Zone. Int J Nutr Food Sci. 2015;4(3):343-355. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20150403.22

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijnfs.20150403.22,
      author = {Nahusenay A. and Tessfaye T.},
      title = {Roles of Rural Women in Livelihood and Sustainable Food Security in Ethiopia: A Case Study from Delanta Dawunt District, North Wollo Zone},
      journal = {International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences},
      volume = {4},
      number = {3},
      pages = {343-355},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijnfs.20150403.22},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnfs.20150403.22},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijnfs.20150403.22},
      abstract = {This study was conducted at Delanta Dawunt District, which was characterized by high population density, recurrent drought and food insecurity. By so doing, it has assessed the various ranges of activities that are performed by women and identified the overall problems encountered by women. To these end, attempts have been made by rural women to identify their roles in livelihood and sustainable food security in Ethiopia in general and the Delanta Dawunt District in particular. The study was conducted by taking four sampled rural local districts from a total of 44 local districts. Household surveys were made by taking 160 women and 40 men. The interviewees were selected using stratified random sampling technique in 50 households from each local district. The data were analyzed using percentage, mean score, cumulative frequency and Chi-Square tests. As the results shown, women were more participating in a wide range of poverty alleviation. They were food producers and providers in Delanta Dawunt District. Despite their fundamental roles in agricultural sectors and sustainable food security, women have been marginalized for so long. Among the total respondents, about 85, 80, 71 and 54 % of the respondents stated that women were more venerable for quality and quantity of food, water, health services and fuel wood, respectively and 65% of adults (women) ate twice per day (mornings and evenings). This occurred under the normal and good harvesting seasons. In terms of agro-ecology, two meals per day were more common in Woina Dega (72%), Dega (70%) and Kolla (46%). In general, women have limited access of dietary composition of nutritional meals in the study area. Among  the crop production activities, storage preparation (92%) and storing processes (83%) were mainly performed by women, weeding, harvesting and post-harvesting, and threshing field preparation tasks shared equally with men by 53, 50 and 83%, respectively. With respect to livestock management, women have taken a lion’s share. Of the livestock management tasks, milk processing 83%), caring of new borne animals (52%) and barn cleaning (63%), and almost all the household duties were predominantly performed by women. Women have also limited access of agricultural products, credit facilities, skill training, education, extension services and information. To strengthen and develop women involvement in livelihood and sustainable food security all concerned bodies should take appropriate measures to empower women’s in education and training. The packages of development including improvements in income, health, nutrition and education should be addressed women’s.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Roles of Rural Women in Livelihood and Sustainable Food Security in Ethiopia: A Case Study from Delanta Dawunt District, North Wollo Zone
    AU  - Nahusenay A.
    AU  - Tessfaye T.
    Y1  - 2015/05/06
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    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnfs.20150403.22
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20150403.22
    T2  - International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences
    JF  - International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences
    JO  - International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences
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    EP  - 355
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2327-2716
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnfs.20150403.22
    AB  - This study was conducted at Delanta Dawunt District, which was characterized by high population density, recurrent drought and food insecurity. By so doing, it has assessed the various ranges of activities that are performed by women and identified the overall problems encountered by women. To these end, attempts have been made by rural women to identify their roles in livelihood and sustainable food security in Ethiopia in general and the Delanta Dawunt District in particular. The study was conducted by taking four sampled rural local districts from a total of 44 local districts. Household surveys were made by taking 160 women and 40 men. The interviewees were selected using stratified random sampling technique in 50 households from each local district. The data were analyzed using percentage, mean score, cumulative frequency and Chi-Square tests. As the results shown, women were more participating in a wide range of poverty alleviation. They were food producers and providers in Delanta Dawunt District. Despite their fundamental roles in agricultural sectors and sustainable food security, women have been marginalized for so long. Among the total respondents, about 85, 80, 71 and 54 % of the respondents stated that women were more venerable for quality and quantity of food, water, health services and fuel wood, respectively and 65% of adults (women) ate twice per day (mornings and evenings). This occurred under the normal and good harvesting seasons. In terms of agro-ecology, two meals per day were more common in Woina Dega (72%), Dega (70%) and Kolla (46%). In general, women have limited access of dietary composition of nutritional meals in the study area. Among  the crop production activities, storage preparation (92%) and storing processes (83%) were mainly performed by women, weeding, harvesting and post-harvesting, and threshing field preparation tasks shared equally with men by 53, 50 and 83%, respectively. With respect to livestock management, women have taken a lion’s share. Of the livestock management tasks, milk processing 83%), caring of new borne animals (52%) and barn cleaning (63%), and almost all the household duties were predominantly performed by women. Women have also limited access of agricultural products, credit facilities, skill training, education, extension services and information. To strengthen and develop women involvement in livelihood and sustainable food security all concerned bodies should take appropriate measures to empower women’s in education and training. The packages of development including improvements in income, health, nutrition and education should be addressed women’s.
    VL  - 4
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, College of Social Sciences and Humanity, Samara University, Ethiopia

  • Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, College of Social Sciences and Humanity, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia

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