TThe central theme of this study was to explore how farm households cope with droughtrninduced food shortage and investigating effectiveness of coping strategies in bUilding thernresilience of farmers' livelihoods at Fedis district. In order to meet these objectives, variousrndata collection and analysis techniques were employed. The necessary data were generatedrnfrom primary and secondary data sources to triangulate or crosscheck one data collectionrnmethods with the other so that its reliability could be maximized. Hence, field observation,rnhousehold survey, key informant interview and focus group discussions were the principalrnmeans of generating primary sources of data while secondary data were obtained fromrnvarious governmental and nongovernmental organizations ' documents and reports, booksrnand academic research papers. The data collected through household survey were codedrnand entered into Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and analyzed by usingrndescriptive as well as inferential statistical techniques such as frequency, percentage, onernway ANOVA, correlation, An independent sample t-test and cross tabulation of differentrnvariables.rnThe study findings revealed that the intensity and frequency of drought has been increasingrnin the last few decades. In line with this, the number of population exposedfor food shortagernhave been increaSing and dependency on external food sources become prevalent recently.rnVulnerability to food shortages has been increasing owing to low entitlement to productivernassets (land, farm oxen), traditional farm operations which undermine the coping capacityrnof the farm households. Besides, the biophysical and socia-economic factors constrainingrnthe major livelihoods activities thus the farm households could not obtain the requiredrnbenefits for their daily life. The cumulative effects of recurrent drought and thernaforementioned aggravating factors unable the farm households to cover their family'srnannual food requirements even under normal circumstances.rnThe farm households develop different coping strategies to overcome the problems of foodrnshortage. The identified coping strategies were changing consumption patterns, borrowing,rnappealing for food aid, eating wildfoods, migration to surrounding urban areas, sellingjilelrnwood and charcoal, pulling children out of school and trading. Depending up on theirrnwealth status, the farm households employ one or the combinations of these strategies tornsmooth food consumption patterns during drought induced harvest failures.rnThe coping strategies effectiveness in building the resilience of farmers' livelihoods wasrnalso measured against the pre developed indicators. Thus, changing consumptions patterns,rnreceiving food aid, migration, sellingjilel wood and charcoal, pulling children out of schoolrnwere not effective coping strategies. These are strategies that can undermine the jii/urernlivelihoods of the farm households since they were at velY high cost. On the other hand,rnpetty trading and borrowing are most preferredfuture drought coping strategies by the farmrnhouseholds and needs to be strengthened.rnBased on the study findings, different actions by the government and non governmentrnorganizations need to be undertaken to enhance the coping capacity and ensure therneffectiveness of coping strategies have been recommendedfor better and secure livelihoodsrnin the fuherre.rnKey words: copin g strategies, coping ca pacity, effecte