IMPACT OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY ON HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY IN CHIRO DISTRICT, WEST HARARGHE ZONE, OROMIA REGION, ETHIOPIA

Climate variability is depleting assets and adversely affecting food security of smallholders of rainfall dependent livelihoods, and it affects crop production and price due toincrease in average temperature and rainfall variability. This study was undertaken in Chiro district to analyze impact of climate variability on household food security in Chiro district. Data on rainfall/temperature and crop production were obtained from National Meteorological Agency and Chiro District Agricultural Offices, respectively. Besides, Systematic random sampling method was used to determine 105 sample respondents, and Key Informant Interviews and Focused Group Discussions were also conducted among key purposely selected participant. Long-term climate trend and variability were analyzed using XLSAT 2014 and INSTAT+ v3.36 respectively, and HFIAS and regression model were used to analyze status of household food security and effects of climate variability on household food security respectively by SPSS version 20 . The results indicated that, mean onset date, end date and length of growing period of the rain season for chiro station were May7 (128 DOY), October13 (287 DOY) and 159 days respectively, while annual, belg and kiremt rainfall amount decreased by factors of -20.81 mm/year,-4.49 mm/year, and -0.36 mm/year respectively. The results of the temperature trend analysis revealed that decreased trend in minimum temperature by -0.001 °C/year, whereas both maximum and mean temperature increased by 0.03 °C and 0.028 °C/year respectively. Regarding status of household food security, further results from both household perception on their food gaps 78% and Household Food Insecurity Assess Scale 77.1% indicated that majority of the household heads were food insecure. Furthermore, the results of Pearson Correlation Coefficients indicated that, annual temperature against staple crop production had negative correlation for sorghum (r = -0.521), barley (r = -0.374) and maize (r = -0.467), and negative correlation of annual rainfall(r=-0.664) against barley production. Pearson Correlation Coefficients for annual rainfall against staple food crop prices showed negative correlations for all secected crops, whereas the correlation of annual mean temperature against all food crop prices indicated that positive correlations. The results indicated that increase in temperature and reduction in rainfall had major effect on food security in study area. Finally, adoption of climate adaptation strategies such as sustainable watershed management activities recommended