Crop Genetic Diversity, Food Security and Farm Household Well-being During Shocks

In this paper we use a unique dataset from eastern Ethiopia to explore the role of crop genetic resources in attaining household food security. The study area is a center of origin and domestication for sorghum, and about three quarters of the farms are growing land race varieties of sorghum rather than improved varieties; while about three quarters of farms grow improved varieties of wheat rather than land races. Our analysis has indicated that there is an important link between crop genetic diversity and the choice of coping mechanism households adopt in the face of a production shock from drought.