Looming food crisis stir at Ethiopia

  1. Posted on Tuesday 2 September 2008 - 15:56
    joan
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    Joyce J. Wangui, Africanews reporter in Nairobi, Kenya. Picture by: Arjen Westra
    Famine is imminent in Ethiopia as shortage of food increases and threatens millions of lives, the UN has warned. The situation is as a result of inadequate rainfall in the main February to April wet season which has left at least 75,000 Ethiopian children under age five at risk from malnutrition.
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    The UN’s office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) estimates that about eight million people need urgent food relief while another 4.6 million need emergency assistance.

    Speaking to journalists after visiting one of the draught stricken areas of Arba Minch, about 500km south of the capital Addis Ababa, the UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency relief, John Holmes, said there was an urgent need to quell the situation and save children at risk of malnutrition.

    Farmers in Arba Minch are worried that if the situation does not change, the food crisis will degenerate into famine, similar to the one that hit Ethiopia in previous years. They have appealed to the UN to increase food aid.

    One Hailu Musa, a farmer in the area said people were coping by cutting down on the number of meals they eat, which leaves growing children stunted from malnutrition. He added: “We are also forced to sell our farm tools and other assets such as livestock in order to buy food.”

    Implications for education

    Children in Ethiopia’s poor households are being forced to withdraw from school so they can help find food. Now they not only face the problem of malnutrition but education too has become a challenge.

    Ethiopia suffered severe floods last year, which destroyed most of the food crop, thus escalating the food insecurity.

    The UN appealed in June for $325.2m mainly for drought victims but only 52% of the appeal has been met. Now the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) fears of an increasing catastrophe due to lack of consistent rains.

    “Due to lack of rains, it is very clear that many people in Ethiopia will continue to face problems in terms of food security,” said Bjorn Ljungqvis, the UNICEF country representative.

    Escalating food prices

    Ethiopia, just like many countries, faces the skyrocketing food prices, which also threatens the food security. The food prices have soured by 330 per cent.

    The World Food Programme (WFP) recently said that the price of staples such as maize and sorghum had increased by about 90 per cent in less than a year, while wheat increased by 54 per cent between September 2007 and February 2008.

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