Coffee Income, Food Security and Diet Diversity of Smallholder Coffee Growers in Ethiopia

A large primary survey was conducted to understand the status of food security and diet diversity of smallholder coffee farmers from within major commercial coffee producing zones in the country. We relied on data from almost 1,600 households that were randomly selected and then interviewed using a multi-stage sampling technique. The study applied both descriptive and econometric methods to analyse data from the household survey. As core findings indicate, income from coffee sales was found to be positively and significantly related to food security while better diet diversity is found to be associated with total household wealth. However, diet diversity has no positive or negative association with the share of coffee in total household income. In both cases of food security and diet diversity, land size, the total value of household assets and the value of livestock are found to have a positive contribution as predicted. This implies that cash crop production of coffee can help to assure improved food security in the country, although other additional measures are needed to obtain improved diet diversity of smallholder coffee growers.