Spatial exploration of non-resilience to food insecurity, its association with COVID-19 and household coping strategies in East Gojjam districts, Northwest Ethiopia, 2020

The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has posed a significant multifaceted threat to the global community. Ethiopia, as a Sub-Saharan African country, is suffering from chronic food insecurity, and the emergence of such a pandemic will exacerbate the situation. As a result, this study investigated the spatial variation of non-resilience to food insecurity, its relationship with COVID-19, and household coping strategies to become resilient in the long run among households in the East Gojjam Zone of Northwest Ethiopia. From September 22 to December 24, 2020, an agro-ecological-based cross-sectional study of 3532 households was conducted to assess the spatial distribution and associated factors of non-resilience to household food insecurity. The enumeration areas (EAs) and households were chosen using a multistage sampling technique. Data were gathered using a semi-structured questionnaire and checklist using an Android device loaded with an Open Data Kit (ODK) template. Binary logistic regression was used to identify the specific factors associated with household non-resilience to food insecurity. A thematic analysis was conducted to investigate the opportunities and challenges of resilience for household food insecurity. Nearly two-thirds (62.5%) of the households were farmers, 67.9% lived in rural areas, and nearly three-quarters (73.8%) earned less than or equal to ETB 2100 per month. Males headed more than four-fifths of the households (81.7%). We found that nearly two-thirds of the households (60.02%), 95% CI 58.40, 61.64) were food insecure. After bivariate logistic regression, we found that households who were divorced (AOR = 2.54 (1.65, 3.87)), daily laborers (AOR = 2.37 (1.15, 4.87)), government employees (AOR = 2.06 (1.05, 4.05)), residents of highland and hot areas (AOR = 11.5 (5.37, 16.77)) and lowland areas (AOR = 1.35 (1.02, 3.15)) were frustrated by COVID-19 (AOR = 1.23 (1.02, 1.50)) and price inflation (1.89 (AOR = 1.42, 2.56))) were at higher odds of being non-resilient to household food insecurity at a 95% confidence level. Geospatial hot spot analysis revealed that Kurar kebele (the lowest government administrative unit) in Dejen District and Debre Markos town were the red-hotspot areas of household non-resilience to food insecurity. Less than a quarter of the households attempted to cope with food insecurity by adjusting their food consumption, while more than 60% of the households chose none of the coping strategies tested. According to the thematic analysis, the degree of poverty (lack of asset ownership), the COVID-19 pandemic, farm decreased variety, and low crop productivity were identified as challenges to coping with the hardship of resilience to food insecurity. During the COVID-19 pandemic and public emergency, the proportion of households that were unprepared for food insecurity reached its peak. It was recognized that a segment of the population with low economic capacity was more vulnerable to food insecurity and less resilient. Tough developmental gains will be undermined in this case. As a result, each responsible body and stakeholder should develop and implement solid corrective plans for the local context.