Abstract:
Majority of farmers live in rural areas and contribute immensely to economy and wealth creation among
the rural population, however they are faced with myriad of problems including food insecurity. Even though they
participate in food production most of them are food insecure. The objectives of the study included to: (1) examine
the socio-economic profile of smallholder farmers, (2) determine the socio-economic factors influencing food
security among smallholder farmers and (3) assess household food security status of smallholder farmers. The
study utilized both primary and secondary data sources. Purposive sampling was used to select 384 respondents
who were interviewed using structured questionnaires. To establish food security status of farming households in
the study area, Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) which is a food security measurement scale was used to
determine food security status of each household. Logit regression model was used to analyze the influence of
socio-economic factors on farm household food security. Data was summarized and presented through descriptive
statistics using SPSS version 20.0 software. Results showed that only 20.7% of the respondents were food secured
compared 79.3% who were food insecure. Additionally, seven variables positively influenced food security of the
household: age, land size, gender, educational level, civil status, household incomes, price of major agricultural
commodities and access to credit. Apart from gender and price of major agricultural commodities other variables
positively and significantly influenced food security. Based on research findings the main recommendations of the
study include: family planning would be necessary to reduce high food insecurity; Efficient land use, soil
conservation and modern farming technologies be adopted to improve food security; and policies that encourage
youth participation in agriculture should be developed and adopted.
