The mailer of dimension of food security in rural areas is of immense nature and needs to berninvestigated. A number of factors are responsible for the situation. This paper examines therndeterminants of three aspects of food security in rural areas of Jarso Woreda, i.e. foodrnavailability, accessibility and absorption.rnIn light of this, examination of the socio-economic characteristics of the food secure andrninsecure; identification of factors influencing food security; estimation of the extent of foodrninsecurity; and assessment of livelihood strategies and coping mechanisms of the ruralrnhouseholds were undertaken in the study.rnTwo stage stratified random sampling procedure was used to select 3 rural kebeles and 122rnsample respondents from a total of 19 rural kebeles. For the purpose, survey questionnaire,rnFGD and KII were used to collect the primary data from the sample households.rnTo analyze the data, descriptive statistics like mean, standard deviation, percentage, andrnfrequency distribution, household food balance model and Household Food Insecurity AccessrnScale (HF1AS) for Measurement of Food Access were used to describe the socio-economicrncharacteristics of the sample households. In addition al/empts were also made to look in to thernspecific characteristics of the food secure and food insecure groups using univariate analysisrn(T-test and chi-square (x2) tests of significance), with respect to the explanatory variables.rnThe results of the study revealed that the rural households in the study area were food insecure.rnIt was checked by using recommended minimum calorie requirement (i.e., 2100 kca/). Based onrnthe results about 60.7% of the rural households were food insecurernA multivariate regression model was used to identifY the determinants of food insecurity. A totalrnof twelve explanatory variables, 6 continuous and 6 discrete, were included in the empiricalrnmodel. Out of these, 6 were found to be statistically significant. These variables include familyrnsize, type of household head, and status of education, cultivated land size, livestock ownershiprnand agro-ecology.rnTo estimate the extent of food insecurity FGT index was used. Accordingly, the incidence of foodrninsecurity, food insecurity gap and severity of food insecurity were found to be 60.7 percent, 14rnpercent and 228 percent, respectively, when we see the household food insecurity accessrnprevalence (HFIAP), ' it classifies the sample households in to food secure and mild, moderatelyrnand severely food insecure. Accordingly result shows only 13.1% of the population wasrncategorized under food secure, while 17.2%, 45.1%, and 24.1% of the population was classifiedrnas mildly, moderately and severely food insecure respectively. The livelihood strategies of thernrural households were also found to be diversification and integration of activities.rnTherefore, consideration of dimensions and determinants of food security; and the livelihood andrncoping mechanisms' of the rural households is important because it provides information thatrnwould enable to undertake effective measures with the aim of improving rural livelihoods inrngeneral and food security in particular.rnKey Words: food availability, access & utilization; Livelihood strategies and coping mechanism