The study has closely examined the multiple responses on the part of the peasants ofrnsouthwest of Lake Chamo to demographic pressure, land shortage andfood supply - demandrngap. The data sets for the study were mainly collected from the field through formal surveyrnquestionnaire administered to J 60 randomly selected sample households and by infolwal andrnsemi - stt11ctured interviews and group discussion with men and women, development agents,rnPA leaders and knowledgeable elderly persons using PRA / RRA methods and tools. Thernstudy has employed pOint score analysis technique to identify the most important socio -rneconomic and psychological reasons for the demcmd for bearing large number of children asrnwell as to diagnose the most commonly percJeved negative effects of increasing populationrnpressure on the local environment and food supply - demand gap. Moreover, descriptiverntechniques such as percentages, cumulative frequencies, cross tabulations, indices, graphsrnand inferential statistics like chi - square test have been used to summarize the importantrnattt'ibutes of the mixed farming systems and peasant responses to population and landrnpressure.rnIn the study area, bearing large number of children and family size has beenrnconsidered the norm for a large majority of the populatioll. Point score analysis of peasants'rnperceptions revealed that continuity of the familylelan name, love of children, old - agernsecurity conSideration, economic support before old age, social acceptance and marriagernstability are the most important motives, in that order, for the desire for additional childrenrnamong the interviewed farmers. It is presumed that the existing valid socio - economic andrnemotional values attached to large mlmber of children and family size will continue to be arnlimiting factor to implement the national population policy until the prerequisite necessatyrnattitudinal changes among the mass of the peasants are effected through appropriate familyrnplaning education and improvment of their quality of life by expanding socio - economicrninfrastructure services. Point score analysis of peasant perceptions has also shown that thernmajor negative impacts of growing population pressure on the local environment are, in orderrnof importance, progressive leveling down of peasant holdings, lack of long-term security ofrntenure over land, increasing gap between food grain production levels and consumptionrnrequirements, declining productivity of land, environmental degradation, incidence ofrnlandless peasant households, and fragnlentation of agricultural land into smaller holdings.rnThe peasants of the study area have developed quite several livelihood strategies to overcomernthese problems induced largely by demographic pressure.rn[n general terms, two complementC/ly sets of pressure responses on the part of thernlocal famlers were identified The first is ref elTed to as onjarm oriented responses. Thisrngroup of peasant responses comprised progressive Chatlges in the local farming systems (fromrnsemi-sedentC/ly agropastoralism to mixed famling systems), cropland and settlementrnencroachements onto forest! woodland and grazing resources, land use intensificationrn(through increased cropping intensity, application of more labour inputs per unit area of landrnper growing season, and shifting to more labour-intensiveand high-vallie food and cashcrops), and devising local land transaction arrangements (to withstand the mismatch betweenrnkey production factors such as land, labour and draught oxen). The second group of pressurernresponses has to do with increasing participation in rural nonfarm activities and seasonalrnand pemlanent out-migration, and are thus termed as nonfarm oriented responses. As arnresult of these interdependent sets of pressure responses labour is not generally underutilizedrnin the study area, and most of the sampled households (about 86 percent) are still in favour ofrnmaximizing their household labour through bearing large I11Imber of childrenrnAlthough further multivariate statistical analysis may be necessary to empirically testrnthe overall effects of farm-nonfarm responses on levels of household food security, theserncomplementwy sets of livelihood strategies have significantly contributed to the statisfactionrnof households' annual food consumption requirements. The implication of the sutdy for rumlrndevelopment is that as farm and nonfarm responses strongly contributed to rural livelihoods,rnI1Iral poliCies should aim at diversification and intensification of agriCllltural and nonagriClllturalrnactivities as well as promotion of production and consumption linkages betweenrnfarm and nonfarm sectors through investments in social, economic and institutionalrninfrastructure. For rumlnonfarm activities to play their key role in relieving populationrnpressure on agricultural land, it will be particularly essential to provide a complete packagernof financial, technical and management assistance to the land-hungry farmers