Although its border war with Eritrea has displaced some 350,000 people and there are border clashes with Somali warlords, drought in the south and east of Ethiopia is having by far the greatest humanitarian impact.
It has led to poor harvests in the 1998-1999 Meher growing season (Ethiopia’s main harvesting period) as well as a series of low-yielding Belg or secondary crops. The Tigray and Amhara regions in east of Ethiopia, together with southern regions Oromiya and Somali, face a severe food crisis.
In Somali the districts of Gode and Afder have received insufficient rainfall for three years in a row, leading to high rates of malnutrition, severe water shortages and a significant loss of livestock.
Over 57,000 people have left Gode in search of food and water and 90% of cattle is dying, leaving farmers with little or nothing to trade for grain.
Recent rain has gone some way to replenishing wells and rivers but populations remain weak and vulnerable and will need food aid over the coming months.
The late arrival of the belg rains which contribute to 50% of crop production in some parts of the country, has allowed the planting of traditional crops in the regions of Amhara, Oromiya, Southern Nations and Tigray. However, they will not be available for consumption between June and August.
|
Crop Seasons
|
Sowing
|
Harvest
|
|
Meher
|
April-Aug
|
Dec-Jan
|
|
Belg
|
Feb-March
|
May-June
|
In the Somali region, drought-affected communities are also in dire need of development assistance to rebuild the local farmer’s most valuable asset - livestock.
In the recent rains, many livestock either drowned in flash floods or risked death from over-eating. In Hargele, 75 percent of sheep and goats and 65 percent of cattle have died.
Elsewhere, the Wolaitya area in north Omo is considered highly vulnerable to food insecurity while north and south Omo and the special woredas (Konso, Derashe, Burji, Amaro Kello) are also at risk after total crop failure.
Ethiopia’s massive land offensive against Eritrea has also exacerbated food insecurity. There are reports of population movements in Tigray due to renewed fighting and the area requires food aid for internally displaced populations.
WFP Appeals
WFP is already providing emergency rations to subsistance farmers who have been badly hit by the succession of poor harvests. Drought-affected pastoralists, whose traditional coping mechanisms are no longer able to sustain them, have also received assistance.
In January, WFP launched an emergency drought operation aimed at providing 2.3 million people with 250,000 metric tons of food aid for a period of nine months from April to December 2000.
The emergency food basket will be expanded to include more protein foods to compensate for the loss of livestock.
WFP also plans a programme of supplementary school feeding which will target 145,000 school children per year in the worst affected areas of the country. This brings to 265,000, the number of children benefitting from the project.
After recent assessments of arable and grazing areas, WFP is proposing additional food commodities, mainly cereals, blended food, pulses and vegetable oil, to guarantee full rations of 15 kg of cereal per person per month.
WFP Activities in Ethiopia
In the 1970s and 1980s, Ethiopia struggled to meet its food needs as cereal production failed to match population growth in a country where the average mother must care for seven children.
Even today, two million Ethiopians still live off food aid even in a good year, but, in the 1990s, the gap between supply and demand started narrowing, thanks in part to long-term WFP development solutions:
Environment
Soil erosion and deforestation mean the total area of Ethiopia dedicated to agricultural production is shrinking.
WFP Response: projects aim to rehabilitate farmland and improve irrigation in drought prone areas.
Education
With half Ethiopia's population aged under 15, education is vital to development. But Ethiopian education is one of the most underdeveloped in the world with just 29% attending primary school in 199/95.
WFP Response: use free school lunches to encourage parents to send their children to school.
Urban Poverty
Drought and conflict in the 1990s created a wave of immigration from Ethiopia's countryside into towns and cities. Some four million migrants settled in makeshift shanty towns.
WFP Response: food aid targets the "poorest of the poor" to improve basic living conditions and nutrition levels..
Drought History
Year/No's and affected
1965: 1.5 m
1969: 1.7 m
1973: 3 m
1977: 300,000
1978: 1.4 m
1979: 23,000
1983: 2 m
1983: 5 m
1983: 7.75 m
1987: 7 m
1989: 2.3 m
1990: 6.5 m
1991: 6.2 m
1992: 0.5 m
From 1965-96, WFP assistance to Ethiopia averaged US$34 million per year
WFP Horn of Africa Alert: Ethiopia
People affected by drought: 7.8 million
People assisted by WFP aid: 2.3 million
Food required by WFP, April- Dec 2000: 253,500 metric tons
Funds required by WFP : US$141.6 million
Risks to Food Security
Climate: frequent droughts.
Security: clan-based conflict in the south makes it hazardous for humanitarian aid to reach the drought affected area bordering Somalia.
Communication: landlocked since independence of Eritrea in 1993. War means it no longer has access to Assab & Massawa ports to import food aid. Relies on Djibouti, with monthly handling capacity of 100,000 metric tons
War: two-year armed conflict with Eritrea over border alignment.
Environment: since 1900, forest cover has fallen from 40% to 3%; as a result, two billion tons of top soil washed away each year.
Food Production
Background: agriculture accounts for more than half of GDP, 90% exports & 80% employment in one of the world’s least developed countries. But sector suffers from frequent droughts, lack of irrigation and declining internal security. Poor water supply also makes farmers vulnerable to drought.
Main products: cereals, pulses, coffee, oilseed, sugarcane, potatoes; cattle, sheep, goats.
Land use: Arable land = 12%, Permanent crops = 1%, Permanent pastures = 40%, Forests = 25%, Other = 22%
Food Facts
Even in bumper harvest years like 1995-6 and 1996-7, hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians still depend on food aid.
Ethiopia has highest rates of malnutrition in Africa, third in the world after Bangladash and India
Copyright © 2000, World Food Programme