Food Security in Ethiopia: Review of Research, 2005-2016

A significant amount of research has been conducted on food security in Ethiopia, yet few reviews and syntheses are available. This paper reviews the research indexed on the Web of Science platform from 2005 until 2016 on food security in Ethiopia. It presents a summary of research, analyzes trends and outlines knowledge gaps as well as potential areas for future research. For improved readability, the review categorized and synthesized research into eight thematic research areas: (1) climate change and rainfall, (2) food science and technical agricultural studies, (3)inequalities, (4) individual-level studies, (5) large-scale land acquisitions and land grabs, (6) natural resource management and water, (7) social services and policy, and (8) vulnerability assessments and methods. The results suggest that while important research is being done, there is a greater need to expand our research on inequalities, to engage with new manifestations of food insecurity, to critically reflect on our measures and metrics of food security, and to engage in interdisciplinary approaches. Regular reviews and syntheses of the literature are required to better enable researchers to build upon existing knowledge to identify key knowledge gaps and new research directions.