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Abstract
Many smallholder farms in sub-Saharan Africa are characterised by the integration of crops
and livestock. Livestock improve household food consumption; especially where crop
production suffers due to worsening agro-climates. Livestock contribute to food consumption
directly as food, and indirectly as an input to crop production and a source of income. For
oxample, studies in the highlands of Ethiopia showed that the sale of livestock and livestock
vroducts can account for as high as 87% of household cash income, which in turn is spent
primarily on food. The fulfilment of a household's food consumption preferences is a preraquisite
to its attainment of food security.
111is paper presents the preliminary results of an analysis of the linkages between livestock
lioldings, household characteristics, and food consumption of smallholders in the highlands
of Ethiopia - a region with a long history of crop-livestock integration on the household farm
(Ind where women play a dual role as farmers and home caretakers. A proportionate
stratified random sample of 107 households was selected. Results showed that households
with more oxen also have more livestock. Female heads and illiterate heads were most
numerous in households with no ox. This indicates that households with lower livestock
holdings, primarily those with female or illiterate heads, may be more vulnerable to food
Insecurity. The amount of food consumed is not significantly different among the oxen
ownership groups. Nonetheless, the sources of food, i.e. own production or purchased, may
Indicate the household's ability to be self-sufficient and to purchase preferred foods.