It is widely asserted that rural households In developing countries - including Ethiopia - are plagued by a plethora of shocks, which subsequently leads to significant risks to income and consumption. On the other hand, it is also conjectured that in the presence of these shocks and risks, households have access to a variety of formal and Informal mechanisms for dealing with these events as and when they occur. The existence of these mechanisms, It Is argued, explains why consumption does not exactly co-move with income. In other words, there are smaller consumption fluctuations than those that have been observed in income. Indeed, if this is the case, then it is plausible to assert that rural households possess consumption insurance against the relevant shocks.