Background: The role of wild foods in combating problems of food shortage is paramount. However, existing approaches to combat food insecurity shock have generally focused on reducing vulnerability via increasing productivity of domesticated foods. In contrast, approaches that enhance resilience mainly through wild food sources have been less focused. This study examined the contribution of wild foods to household resilience to food insecurity in the green famine belt of Ethiopia. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 220 households was conducted using a structured questionnaire, key informant interviews, and semi-participant observations. Factor analysis was run using SPSS to analyze data. Correlation analysis was used to examine the direction and strength of association between wild foods and the income and food access (IFA), a latent proxy indicator of resilience. Cross-tabulation was also run to determine the proportion of households in each ethno-culture group under each resilience category. Results: The mean amount of wild foods obtained by households was 156.61 kg per household per annum. This was about 5 % and 9 % of, gross and, net food available from all sources respectively. Wild foods contributed well to household resilience as the factor loading (Factor2 = 0.467) was large enough and were significantly correlated with IFA (r = 0.174). Wild vegetables were the most collected and consumed type of wild foods constituting 52.4 % of total amount of wild foods. The total amount of wild foods was smaller than that of domesticated sources of food. The majority of households (38.6 %) reported "reduced source of wild foods" as a reason for this. Smaller proportion of the indigenous (11.2 %) than the non-indigenous (34.1 %) ethno-culture group reported one or more reasons for their lower level of dependence on wild foods.

Background LULC analysis using satellite images for detecting the changes across a given landscape is a very crucial tool for understanding the nexus between forest ecosystems and human activities. LULC pattern of Anbessa forest had undergone fast changes over the last 30 years, but no research measured the level of the changes. The present study was aimed at detecting the LULC change pattern of Anbessa forest using data from satellite images between 1989 and 2019. Methods We examined the LULC changes of Anbessa forest using satellite image data over the period of 1989–2019 using geospatial technique. Results The results show a 29% and 18% decrease in land area under dense and open forests respectively over a period of 30 years. Conversely there is 32% and 25.6% increase in the land under agricultural land and settlement areas respectively. A relatively small average decrease of 8% in shrub land was found although there was a decrease from 1989 to 2004 and an increase from 2004 to 2019. Conclusion The fact that there is a decrease in natural and open forests and an increase in agricultural and settlement areas implies there had been fast degradation of natural forests of Anbessa forest due to human activities. Thus, there should be an intervention project that ensures the sustainability of the forest.