Analyzing the causes of household food insecurity in Adumi sub-county, Arua district

Abstract

Food insecurity emphasizes a situation where a person is unable to get a sufficient amount of healthy food on a daily basis. The United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2018 describes food insecurity as a situation in which regular access to adequate food is limited by lack of money and other necessary resources. The study was carried out in Adumi Sub County, Arua district with major focus on four parishes namely Kati, Anyara, Nyiovurra and Ombachi. These were chosen because of the high incidences of food insecurity manifested in the form of malnutrition commonly experienced in these parishes. A cross- sectional descriptive research design was done, and the key stakeholders (key informants) were selected using purposive sampling while simple random sampling was used to obtain information from households and farmers. Data was collected from interviews with key stakeholders, attendance of organized existing community activities in the Sub County, and direct field observations in the parishes .Data analysis was done using thematic content analysis where descriptive statistics for example frequencies and percentages were obtained from micro soft excel and then presented using tables and statistical diagrams like pie charts and bar graphs .Concerning people’s expectations on food insecurity, there is general agreement that there is need and urgency to improve on the causes of foo insecurity. They are willing to learn and participate when given the knowledge from the government, local leaders and NGOs. There have been no significant efforts towards improving food insecurity. Rather individual households are undertaking actions towards reducing food insecurity.