This stud), reports both theoretical and elllpirical fill dings all the underlying causes a/food illsecurityrnalld households copillg strategies ill Legambo Wereda, South Wallo, one o( the chronically foodrninsecllre weredas o( the Alllhara regioll. Although the causes alld coping strategies of householdsrnwere 1I0t stlldied before, the stlldy wereda has been alld is being repeatedly affected by droughtinducedrnfood insecurity and the lIIajority of the households were and are exposed to lIIigration andrndeath and the remaining ones are depelldellt 011 food aid. ThIlS, the objective of this research was tornidentifj; and allal),ze the ilia jar causes o.(food insecurity alld coping strategies o( hOllseholds durillgrnfood crisis in the wereda. The allalysis was lIIade using the household data collected Fom threernkebeles (Segnogebeya, Ertlleti, and Tach Akesta), that are representing difFerent agro-ecological andrnproduction zones o./"the weredafor the year 1998/99.rnDescriptive statistics on 1110 jar household characteristics (such as: size and age-sex distributioll,rndepelldency ratio, fertility and mortality, lIIigration, ethnici'y alld language, religious culI/positioll,rnmarital alld literacy status) of the households were discussed. Moreover, the lIIajor activities o( thernhouseholds and major farm characteristics alld access to productive assets (."lIch as: farlll lalld, croprnproductioll, farlll illputs alld extellsioll, draft anilllais alld farlll tools alld livestock productioll), alldrnother variables (such as: non,(arlll opportunities, food aid, and coping strategies) were analyzedrnbased all prilllOl)! alld sOllie seCOlldOl)! data collected FOIII Federal, Regiollal alld local level officesrnand informatioll obtained FOIi/ group discussions alld key informants. In additioll to food availabilityrncalculatiolls used to lIIeasure the level of household's food security status, lillear regression analysisrnwas carried out.rnThe study result has showl/. that, il/ter alia, households with relatively hetter access to resources, HOI/farlllrnincollle, urban center alld better copillg mechanisllls were proved to have relatively better foodrnsecurity status than others. III the study wereda, relatively better of( households were observed inrnwainadega agro-ecology thall those in dega areas.rnAs revealed by the sllldy results, more than 64 percent of the populatioll in the wereda was found tornbe below the food poverty line. Overall, the stlldy populatioll fulfills only 87 percent (1553rnKcal/person/day) of their per capita caloric requirements /i-olll all available sources (including foodrnaid) at the lowest level of survival consllmption rate (which is 1785 Kcal/person/day). Food povert)l,rnas fOllnd out Fom the study results is higltly correlated with agro-ecology, non-farlll access,rnpossession o( cultivable land and other productive assets such as oxen, family size and neamess tornurban centers. The OLS regression results, also revealed that among other variables, agro-ecology,rnnOll-farm income, cultivated land and proximity to the wereda center were/ound out to have positiverncoefficients and higltly significant (all significant at 99 percent confidence level) in determiningrnhousehold's food security status. Hence, the underlying callses for household food insecurity arernfound to be highly related with resource access, location, and non-farm opportunities.rnIt is, therefore, suggested that among other things, focus on family planning, diversifjling the ruralrneconomy (particularly, by giving 1II0re emphasis to livestock and agro-forestl)l developlllent),rncreating offfarm employment opportunities and backing up same of the traditionally known copingrnmechanisms must receive policy atteJltion to reduce household food insecurity. Policy illstrumellts,rnsuch as skill training and credit particlliariy payillg more emphasis to the dega areas could helprndevelop non,/ell'm income for food insecure households. Moreover a well deSigned and plallnedrnreselliement programmes should be seen as an illStrulllent for ensuring sustainable livelihood andrnfood security of the IIIOst vllinerable households in Legalllbo.