he general objective of the study was to explore household food security situation in a drought-prone environment in highland Ethiopia using Ganta-Afeshum Wereda as a case ? study site. For this study both secondary and primary data were used. Questionnaire • survey, key informants .interview and focus group discussions and non-participant observation were employed to collect the primary data. A total of 120 households' were covered by the questionnaire survey and the questionnaire covered issues related to households' demographic characteristics, socio-economic characteristics and asset owner ship in a mix of closed and open-ended questions. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used for data analysis and the later included descriptive statistics and regression modeling. The survey results showed that the majority (66. 7%) of the sampled households' experienced food insecurity. Food insecurity is a chronic problem in that, on average, hoeseholds ' in the study area consume from own production for only about five months. The study revealed that the Dega and Woina-Dega agro-ecologies are highly prone to vulnerabilility of food insecurity. The low level a/productivity of food insecure households' were related with rainfall variability, rugged topography and poor resource management/utiliztion. The binary logistic regression results showed that family size, fa~land size, credit access, small ruminant holding, agro-ecology, and involvement in no""°ff farm activities were significant variables determined~ households' food security. On the basis of the main empirical findings of the study, the following recommendations. were forwarded to enhance household food security in the study area.-improve proper resource utilization/management of the farmers, increasing investment in environmental protection, promotion and effective resettlement programs, improve the provision of credit facilities, encourage extension programs, expanding family planning programs, increasing crop productivity and diversifying income sources have been recommended as both short term and long term actions of the government bodies, donors and households' themselves to ensure household food security. ABSTRACT i' Key words: Food security, Wereda, Kebele, Copping Strategies, Adaptive Strategies 1