(July 16th, 2011, New Business Ethiopia)- It was at one of rainy days of this July. A group of friends were having coffee after lunch in a café around Kasanchis area, here in Addis Ababa. “Did you guys read about the starvation of over three million people in Ethiopia?” one of the guys asked his friends.
“No, said the only young girl in the group, who seem to have much interest in posing her photos on facebook and chatting than referring news websites. “I saw the news, but why are you so surprised?” responded the other guy paying their bill. “The whole world knows us as an example of famine thanks for the Oxford English Dictionary,” he added collecting cents from the tip plate.
As they started walking out the café, the first guy who started the discussion: “But we heard that our farmers are becoming millionaires,” said with smile slowing down his voice. A few days later almost all the news about Ethiopia has become famine related news after the government officially announced on Monday (July 11, 2011) that it needs emergency food assistance for some 4.5 million people. Even some international news sites reported that the Ethiopian government has underestimated the number of hungry people in the country.
The number of Ethiopians who seek emergency food assistance has increased to 4.5 million from it was 3.2 million in April 2011 was the news allover the internet. But no story seem to be much focused on how on earth all the attempts being made by the government, its development partners and researchers failed to bring an end to the Ethiopia’s endemic food shortage.
The official document for emergency food assistance appeal released by Mitiku Kassa, Ethiopia’s State Minister of Agriculture, shows that some 398 million US dollars is required to meet the current emergency food and non-food assistance of the country.
Poor rain from February to May along with its erratic distribution and long dry spells are mentioned in the document as among the major contributors for the increase in the number people seeking emergency food assistance. Ethiopia, who still depends on rain-fed agriculture, is not able to feed itself even though the country often exports grain to meet its highly needed foreign currency. United States Ambassador to Ethiopia, Donald E. Booth, who noted that his government started supporting Ethiopia’s agriculture sector 50 years ago by assisting the opening of the first agricultural collage in Ethiopia (now called Haromaya University), on his part noted that
Is Getting Rid of Famine a Rocket Science for Ethiopia?
Since Ethiopia’s name is included as an example of famine in British Oxford Dictionary following the 1980s catastrophic famine, many Ethiopians, including those who are successful in life out of their country live in humiliation whenever people on the street associate them and their country with hunger and drought. Not only that to remind its visitors that whenever they think of famine to think of Ethiopia, the News Museum in Washington D.C. displays a portrait of hungry Ethiopians taken during the famine.
“I am so shameful and tired of reporting about Ethiopia’s famine,” says Temam Mamush (nickname), an Ethiopian journalist who has been the media for the past 15 years. “I wonder why feeding ourselves has become so difficult and complicated for us, like a rocket science,” he says. To see the country feeding itself coming out of the frequent drought and famine, the previous two regimes before the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) had exercised some approaches. But, they somehow failed and famine continues to manifest every two and three years.
Many people associate Ethiopia’s frequent hunger with the backwardness of Ethiopian agriculture, its dependency on rain water, land degradation and erosion and absence of appropriate land use and management policy with implementation manuals and guidelines. In addition, some even mention land ownership and the currently famous climate change as among the causes of Ethiopia’s drought and hunger.
“…Increasingly erratic short rains are expected to decrease crop yields significantly unless improvements in policies, technology and practices are achieved,” Ambassador Booth said in his statement at a half day workshop held July 12, 2011 morning here in Addis Ababa under the topic ‘’US Capacity Development and Higher Education for Agricultural Transformation and Food Security in Ethiopia’.
Like its predecessors, the current government of Ethiopia, which has been on power for the past 20 years, has also been introducing one strategies and programs one after another as part of its Agricultural Development Led Industrialization Program. To see the country feeding itself, the government has put in place food security strategy among which Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) and Voluntary Resettlement of farmers from highly drought-affected areas to suitable under-utilized lands are emphasized.
But the question, whether PSNP is really making the people who graduated productive needs to be assessed, according to an agricultural expert who spoke on a two days workshop organized last week at the Ghion Hotel on the issue of climate change and Ethiopia’s food security. The government along its development partners such as, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been investing in millions of dollars on different programs for decades with the goal of bringing lasting solution(s) to Ethiopia’s famine - enabling the country to feed itself.
“Science and innovation is the key to change the situation,” says Gebisa Ejeta (PhD), an Ethiopian World Food Prize Laureate 2009, who refrained from commenting to newbusinessethiopia.com whether what he means includes growing genetically modified foods or not. Donald Steinberg, Deputy Administration the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) who made a statement on Monday evening (July 11, 2011) at the Sheraton Addis, also agrees with the need for utilizing technologies such improved seeds, fertilizers, water pumps and the like, to increase agricultural production.
Walking the Talk
From testing bio-fertilizer and drip irrigation on farms to using improved seeds and water pumps for irrigation, Ethiopian farmers have been introduced to several technologies for decades. Meanwhile, the challenge has always been proper implementation and adaptation of these technologies in an applicable manner to the majority of poor farmers.
Observers of the current agriculture trend in the country argue that introducing the technologies for only those who can afford will not make the country food self-sufficient by itself. Current realities observed on the ground also suggest that there is a need for the government to follow-up and address the obstacles of these poor farmers in accessing and adapting to these technologies. For instance, the fact that many of the successful farmers who are awarded by the government recently for accumulating wealth are those who harvested at least four hectares of land by combining every half hectares of each small-hold farmers in their respective areas.
“The reason these farmers rent their small land is because they can’t afford to use technologies as an input and produce using ground water or the nearby water from lake / river,” says Ahmed Yimer (nickname), one of the journalists who recently visited the model farmers for 15 days in Oromia and South Region accepting the invitation made by the Ministry of Agriculture and Communication Office for Government Affairs. From the interview he made during the visit, he realized that during the dry season the farmers rent their half hectares land to those who comes from the nearby towns and cities including civil servants and consume the rent fee waiting for the rainy season to come.
“As a result these poor farmers remain in vicious circle of poverty. On the other hand the increase in cash crop production, such as onion and vegetables will not assure the food security of the country. Because the small land-holders have to get back their land in order to grow the seasonal crops such as maize wheat during the rainy season, unless and otherwise they decide to sit and starve or migrate to urban areas to often become beggars. Otherwise, we would have at least witnessed a decline on the current monthly food price inflation,” Ahmed argues.
Instead of addressing such hurdles of implementation and scaling up technologies in a way every poor household farmer afford them, the government and donors tend to prefer engaging in firefighter’s business after famine or drought has already affected the poor farmers and pastoralists. For instance, since the start of the year, USAID only has deployed a total of 188.3 million US dollars in response to the drought in Ethiopia targeting some 1.2 million people including funding for 230,000 metric tons of food.
After distributing the food for the hungry both the government and donors as if they have successfully accomplish their task and wait for yet another two or three years to do the same. Like a scratched music CD repeats a certain verse of a song again and again, they have been focusing mainly on supplying emergency food distribution every two and three years giving less attention to the way out of this vicious circle.
As a result, whenever weather change occurs, Ethiopia’s rain-fed agriculture will be in trouble and the country moves to revising the emergency food assistance appeals document. When it comes to the current drought and famine, the funny part is that the United States Embassy in Addis Ababa has declared a disaster due to the effects of the regional drought on February 4, 2011, according to USAID’s Deputy Administration.
In addition, the National Meteorological Agency of the country has been alarming about the weather changes which could lead to droughts and reduction in harvest. Unfortunately, no one said a word why drought in Borenna area of Oromia Region killed livestocks of pastoralists after the early warning. Journalists have been listening in Addis Ababa conference halls about de-stocking livestock meat and selling it before the animals of the pastoralists die in such droughts. But as the saying goes, those who talk are not ‘walking the talk’. Now the question is, will the government and its development partners continue business as usual or commit themselves to sustainable solution that will end this most humiliating burden of Ethiopians.
Source: New Business Ethiopia
“No, said the only young girl in the group, who seem to have much interest in posing her photos on facebook and chatting than referring news websites. “I saw the news, but why are you so surprised?” responded the other guy paying their bill. “The whole world knows us as an example of famine thanks for the Oxford English Dictionary,” he added collecting cents from the tip plate.
As they started walking out the café, the first guy who started the discussion: “But we heard that our farmers are becoming millionaires,” said with smile slowing down his voice. A few days later almost all the news about Ethiopia has become famine related news after the government officially announced on Monday (July 11, 2011) that it needs emergency food assistance for some 4.5 million people. Even some international news sites reported that the Ethiopian government has underestimated the number of hungry people in the country.
The number of Ethiopians who seek emergency food assistance has increased to 4.5 million from it was 3.2 million in April 2011 was the news allover the internet. But no story seem to be much focused on how on earth all the attempts being made by the government, its development partners and researchers failed to bring an end to the Ethiopia’s endemic food shortage.
The official document for emergency food assistance appeal released by Mitiku Kassa, Ethiopia’s State Minister of Agriculture, shows that some 398 million US dollars is required to meet the current emergency food and non-food assistance of the country.
Poor rain from February to May along with its erratic distribution and long dry spells are mentioned in the document as among the major contributors for the increase in the number people seeking emergency food assistance. Ethiopia, who still depends on rain-fed agriculture, is not able to feed itself even though the country often exports grain to meet its highly needed foreign currency. United States Ambassador to Ethiopia, Donald E. Booth, who noted that his government started supporting Ethiopia’s agriculture sector 50 years ago by assisting the opening of the first agricultural collage in Ethiopia (now called Haromaya University), on his part noted that
Is Getting Rid of Famine a Rocket Science for Ethiopia?
Since Ethiopia’s name is included as an example of famine in British Oxford Dictionary following the 1980s catastrophic famine, many Ethiopians, including those who are successful in life out of their country live in humiliation whenever people on the street associate them and their country with hunger and drought. Not only that to remind its visitors that whenever they think of famine to think of Ethiopia, the News Museum in Washington D.C. displays a portrait of hungry Ethiopians taken during the famine.
“I am so shameful and tired of reporting about Ethiopia’s famine,” says Temam Mamush (nickname), an Ethiopian journalist who has been the media for the past 15 years. “I wonder why feeding ourselves has become so difficult and complicated for us, like a rocket science,” he says. To see the country feeding itself coming out of the frequent drought and famine, the previous two regimes before the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) had exercised some approaches. But, they somehow failed and famine continues to manifest every two and three years.
Many people associate Ethiopia’s frequent hunger with the backwardness of Ethiopian agriculture, its dependency on rain water, land degradation and erosion and absence of appropriate land use and management policy with implementation manuals and guidelines. In addition, some even mention land ownership and the currently famous climate change as among the causes of Ethiopia’s drought and hunger.
“…Increasingly erratic short rains are expected to decrease crop yields significantly unless improvements in policies, technology and practices are achieved,” Ambassador Booth said in his statement at a half day workshop held July 12, 2011 morning here in Addis Ababa under the topic ‘’US Capacity Development and Higher Education for Agricultural Transformation and Food Security in Ethiopia’.
Like its predecessors, the current government of Ethiopia, which has been on power for the past 20 years, has also been introducing one strategies and programs one after another as part of its Agricultural Development Led Industrialization Program. To see the country feeding itself, the government has put in place food security strategy among which Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) and Voluntary Resettlement of farmers from highly drought-affected areas to suitable under-utilized lands are emphasized.
But the question, whether PSNP is really making the people who graduated productive needs to be assessed, according to an agricultural expert who spoke on a two days workshop organized last week at the Ghion Hotel on the issue of climate change and Ethiopia’s food security. The government along its development partners such as, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been investing in millions of dollars on different programs for decades with the goal of bringing lasting solution(s) to Ethiopia’s famine - enabling the country to feed itself.
“Science and innovation is the key to change the situation,” says Gebisa Ejeta (PhD), an Ethiopian World Food Prize Laureate 2009, who refrained from commenting to newbusinessethiopia.com whether what he means includes growing genetically modified foods or not. Donald Steinberg, Deputy Administration the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) who made a statement on Monday evening (July 11, 2011) at the Sheraton Addis, also agrees with the need for utilizing technologies such improved seeds, fertilizers, water pumps and the like, to increase agricultural production.
Walking the Talk
From testing bio-fertilizer and drip irrigation on farms to using improved seeds and water pumps for irrigation, Ethiopian farmers have been introduced to several technologies for decades. Meanwhile, the challenge has always been proper implementation and adaptation of these technologies in an applicable manner to the majority of poor farmers.
Observers of the current agriculture trend in the country argue that introducing the technologies for only those who can afford will not make the country food self-sufficient by itself. Current realities observed on the ground also suggest that there is a need for the government to follow-up and address the obstacles of these poor farmers in accessing and adapting to these technologies. For instance, the fact that many of the successful farmers who are awarded by the government recently for accumulating wealth are those who harvested at least four hectares of land by combining every half hectares of each small-hold farmers in their respective areas.
“The reason these farmers rent their small land is because they can’t afford to use technologies as an input and produce using ground water or the nearby water from lake / river,” says Ahmed Yimer (nickname), one of the journalists who recently visited the model farmers for 15 days in Oromia and South Region accepting the invitation made by the Ministry of Agriculture and Communication Office for Government Affairs. From the interview he made during the visit, he realized that during the dry season the farmers rent their half hectares land to those who comes from the nearby towns and cities including civil servants and consume the rent fee waiting for the rainy season to come.
“As a result these poor farmers remain in vicious circle of poverty. On the other hand the increase in cash crop production, such as onion and vegetables will not assure the food security of the country. Because the small land-holders have to get back their land in order to grow the seasonal crops such as maize wheat during the rainy season, unless and otherwise they decide to sit and starve or migrate to urban areas to often become beggars. Otherwise, we would have at least witnessed a decline on the current monthly food price inflation,” Ahmed argues.
Instead of addressing such hurdles of implementation and scaling up technologies in a way every poor household farmer afford them, the government and donors tend to prefer engaging in firefighter’s business after famine or drought has already affected the poor farmers and pastoralists. For instance, since the start of the year, USAID only has deployed a total of 188.3 million US dollars in response to the drought in Ethiopia targeting some 1.2 million people including funding for 230,000 metric tons of food.
After distributing the food for the hungry both the government and donors as if they have successfully accomplish their task and wait for yet another two or three years to do the same. Like a scratched music CD repeats a certain verse of a song again and again, they have been focusing mainly on supplying emergency food distribution every two and three years giving less attention to the way out of this vicious circle.
As a result, whenever weather change occurs, Ethiopia’s rain-fed agriculture will be in trouble and the country moves to revising the emergency food assistance appeals document. When it comes to the current drought and famine, the funny part is that the United States Embassy in Addis Ababa has declared a disaster due to the effects of the regional drought on February 4, 2011, according to USAID’s Deputy Administration.
In addition, the National Meteorological Agency of the country has been alarming about the weather changes which could lead to droughts and reduction in harvest. Unfortunately, no one said a word why drought in Borenna area of Oromia Region killed livestocks of pastoralists after the early warning. Journalists have been listening in Addis Ababa conference halls about de-stocking livestock meat and selling it before the animals of the pastoralists die in such droughts. But as the saying goes, those who talk are not ‘walking the talk’. Now the question is, will the government and its development partners continue business as usual or commit themselves to sustainable solution that will end this most humiliating burden of Ethiopians.
Source: New Business Ethiopia
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