Importing emergency food rations on a large scale overrides local efforts to produce food and undermines the systems needed to withstand future crises
By Tate Munro and Lorenz Wild
The current El Niño-driven drought in Ethiopia is the 15th in Kemal Umer’s lifetime. For Umer and his family, who live in the Afar region, life can be a constant struggle even in the best of times. The income they earn from raising livestock is barely enough to feed the family, and drought conditions make things worse. A single bad season could mean they won’t have enough to eat.