International Journal of Agriculture and Food Security (IJAFS) ISSN 0812-3497, Vol. 7(4), pp. 215-232, September, 2020.  © Advanced Scholars Journals

Full length Research paper

The Contribution of Productive Safety Net and Family Package Programmes in Ensuring Food Security in the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region of Ethiopia

Wubneh Bekele^* and Tiratu Belay

1* P.O.Box 419, Shashemene, Ethiopia

1Hawassa University, Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources, P.O.Box 128, Shashemene, Ethiopia.

*Corresponding author: Email: [email protected]

Accepted 5^th, June, 2021.

Abstract 

This study assessed the extent to which Productive Safety Net and Family Package Programmes (PSNP-FPP) help the beneficiaries in creating income generating assets; studied whether these programmes create dependency on the beneficiaries; and analyzed the efficiency of service delivery mechanisms of these programmes in the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia. Multi stage stratified sampling method was used. In the first stage of the sampling process, 8 districts were randomly selected, out of 72 districts found in the study region. In the second stage, from the selected 8 districts, all kebeles which were covered by PSNP and FPP were recorded. In the third stage, 3 kebeles from each district (24 kebeles in total) were drawn randomly. At last, from each selected kebeles 26 men and women headed households were selected purposively to accommodate both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the programme. In addition to this, 1 project staff from each selected kebele was also selected. Both primary and secondary data were collected from beneficiary and non-beneficiary households of the programme, as well as from manuals, various documents, reports, and other relevant literature. The major tools of data collection used were interview, questionnaire and observation.  After having the data organized, it was analyzed through descriptive statistics. To identify the cause and effect relationship, test the hypothesis and make generalization, inferential statistics was also applied. Finally, the result of the data analyzed was presented using tables. The ‘before and after evaluation design with control group’ were used in order to identify the real contributions of the programmes. The study revealed that farming, animal husbandry, poultry, trade and small business are the main income generating activities in which the beneficiaries of FPP were engaged in. Among these activities, farming took the lion’s share, where more than half of FPP beneficiaries were engaged in. It was also found out that, among the sample FPP beneficiaries, only 61.85% created income generating assets. This implied that the rest failed to achieve food security. The study also showed that only 60.07% of the sample PSNP beneficiaries were covered under FPP, implying that the rest, i.e., 39.93% of sample beneficiaries which were not covered under FPP, did not achieve food security and remained dependent on the assistance provided under PSNP. In addition to these key findings, most of the service delivery mechanisms of these programmes were found to be inefficient. This implied that such delivery system discouraged the borrowers because they waste an unanticipated time and resources. Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that the programmes not only achieved little toward ensuring food security, but also perpetuate further poverty, food insecurity, and dependency.

Key words: Beneficiary, dependency, efficiency, FPPs, food Security, income generating assets, PSNPs, service delivery mechanisms.