Now than ever before, rural communities in the Caprivi region of Namibia are relying more on food aid.
This shows that something has gone wrong with their sources of livelihood. This paper seeks to reveal
the factors that predispose one to receive food aid. A sample size of 253 respondents was randomly
selected from Kabbe, Katima Rural and Linyanti Constituencies. The three constituencies constitute the
flood plains. Factor analysis was used to empirically identify patterns of relationships among observed
factors. The results obtained show that five factor components, namely, capacity to farm, climate risk
awareness, household economic status, past economic opportunities, and household labour with
eigenvalues of ≥ 1 are invaluable to eligibility to food aid. These factors have proven to be responsible
for about 68% of the total variance and are thus, vital for predisposing rural households to receiving
food aid in the study area. By addressing and taking measures on the variables of the factor
components that expose households to food aid, rural households in the study area would most likely
stay away from relying on food aid.