Background: Over 960 million people in the world are hungry and undernourished. The majority of these people are found in Asia and Africa. Approximately one-third of the people in sub-Saharan Africa are undernourished. The mechanisms pursued by households differ in several aspects within and between households. Coping strategies are short-term, location-specific actions and adjustments against hazard and activities that take place within existing structures. Before coming to the modernization time, every society around the world has attempted to overcome food shortages at household levels. They practice activities to escape them from food insecurity. Methods: The study was aimed at coping strategies among food-insecure smallholder farmer households in Ilu Gelan District, West Shoa Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study design and mixed data collection methods were employed. Multistage random sampling technique was employed to select 100 sample households for quantitative data and key informant interview, focused group discussion and observation for qualitative data. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: A coping strategy index at household level had been calculated, and inferential statistics was used to test the variability of the index by gender of the household head. The mean coping index was 88.54 and 119.14 for males and females, respectively. Using inferential statistics, equality of means was tested. The t value was − 5.173 for 98° of freedom, and the mean difference was significant (p < 0.001). The study revealed that female-headed households were higher in coping measures and mean of coping strategy index than male-headed households. Conclusions: In the study districts, smallholder farmer households rely on less preferred and less expensive food items. Coping strategy adopted by poor rural households is a shift to poor, and nutritionally lacking diet leads to health-related problems.

No abstract