Vulnerability of Rural Households to Climate Change and Food Insecurity in Enebse Sar Midir District, Amhara Region, Ethiopia.

Climate change poses profound global challenges, especially for agriculture and food security in developing countries. This study investigates the impact of climate change on household food security and assesses the effectiveness of farm-level adaptation strategies in mitigating its impacts in the Enebse Sar Midir District of the East Gojjam Zone, Ethiopia. Data were collected through a household survey of 184 rural households using structured questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS Version 26. The findings reveal that 85.9% of respondents observed changes in temperature, while 90.2% noted altered rainfall patterns. The key climate-related challenges affecting food security included drought (79.3%), erratic rainfall, and flooding. Household food security was assessed using indicators such as the months of adequate household food provisioning (MAHFP), Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS), and household dietary diversity score (HDDS). The study showed that 33.7%, 42.9%, and 32.1% of households were food secure according to MAHFP, HFIAS, and HDDS, respectively, while the majority remained food insecure. Binary logit regression analysis revealed nine significant determinants of household food security, including age, family size, educational level, livestock ownership, and rainfall variability (p < 0.05 and p < 0.1). Moreover, 82.1% of households adopted climate adaptation strategies, such as soil and water conservation, modified planting time, and improved crop management practices. This result points out the critical need to strengthen household-level adaptation strategies and improve access to climate information to improve food security in drought-prone rural areas of Ethiopia.