Trajectory of covid-19 impacts on food security in Ethiopia: A panel data approach

Covid-19 affects food security of households through different pathways. Studies from developing countries show that the pandemic had heterogeneous impacts on food security across various groups of households. This study aims to examine the trajectory of and differential impacts of the early days of the pandemic on food security in Ethiopia along households’ location, ownership of assets and varying livelihoods and income sources. Using the World Bank’s harmonized panel data on households drawn from the high frequency phone survey, the study undertakes fixed effects regressions. The results indicated that Covid-19 pandemic had a statistically significant impact, but a declining trend, on overall food insecurity in Ethiopia. Households in urban areas have faced a higher chance of being severely food insecure than those in rural, while those households that rely more on the agriculture have a lower odds of being food insecure. Ownership of livestock decreases probability of being severely food insecure. Besides, households whose income source was rental and wage employment were significantly exposed to food insecurity due to the pandemic. Moreover, the results identified significant heterogeneity of the impacts between households with and without receiving remittance and assistance. This suggests the important role of social protection in guarding households from food insecurity during the pandemic in the short term. Overall, the paper determined that living in rural/urban, ownership of land and livestock, rental income, remittance, assistance and wage employment are statistically significant indicators of heterogeneity in the pandemic’s impacts on food insecurity.