Household food insecurity is a complex, multidimensional phenomenon created by the non availability of sufficient food to meet the needs of all household members. It passes through a continuum of phases stipulated by various characteristic conditions, and of behavioral responses of household members. Food insecurity emerged as a key problem and development challenge in Ethiopia in the early 1970s and became all-encompassing in the subsequent decades. The country is characterized by its small holder agriculture and they face challenges. The land used under perennial crops and production were decreased in an alarming rate in Ilugelan district of Oromia region in last five year period of 2008-13. One out of three infants was malnourished in the district. Under this backdrop, the present study looked at the determinants of food insecurity in the Ilugelan District. A Sample of 155 small holder farmers were selected using Simple Random Sampling method from two purposively selected Kebeles namely Meta and Siba. Analytical tools included summarization, descriptive and inferential statistics. Based on the recommended daily food intake of 2,100 calorie per day as bench marks to classifying household’s food insecure status, it was observed that 66.2% of them were food insecure. The estimate for the population was 57.9 to 73.2 with a standard error of 0.0386 for 95% confidence interval. Binary logistic regression model identified eight significant determinants affecting the food insecurity of farm households and they were marital status, dependency, farm size, use of inputs -fertilizer, herbicide and insecticide, land degradation and soil fertility.
