Ethiopia may face famine greater than 1984
- Friday, October 9, 2009, 20:44
- General News
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Ethiopia is one country that I can never stop worrying about. Nor can the world.
Each time that I have gone back over the past 25 years I am encouraged to see so much has changed since the great famine of 1984-85 that shocked the world and so moved us Canadians. Yet there is also much here that is alarmingly similar.
This time old friends — survivors of that earlier tragedy — are proud to show me the signs of progress in the northern province of Tigray, the very epicentre of a famine that killed over a million people.
In the countryside, small catchment dams have been built to trap rainwater and reforestation projects are underway; in the small provincial capital of Mekele, they can now show off a modern university, busy markets and a vibrant youth culture.
A boy eats raw chickpeas from the family plot in Ethiopia’s drought-stricken Oromiya region in January 2009. (Ho New/Reuters)A boy eats raw chickpeas from the family plot in Ethiopia’s drought-stricken Oromiya region in January 2009. (Ho New/Reuters)
Still, for all these encouraging signs I know there remain two constants here.
First, Ethiopia cannot yet feed itself without help from the rest of the world; and second, the unpredictability of this help means the threat of severe food crisis, even famine, is never far away.
Droughts more common
Most of the population survives, barely, on rain-fed agriculture that is increasingly battered by changing global weather patterns.
Droughts used to occur once a decade, but now there are up to three in the same time span.
However much you hope that places like Tigray province can escape the dark shadow of ‘84-85, you know that every few years the rains fail, or come too late, or fall too heavily all at once.
Ethiopia is a place where the word “crisis” is not exaggerated. This year the threat is very severe; in some areas harvests have fallen by 70 per cent.
Already you can see long lines of truck bearing food relief for millions rumble down the main highway, the same weary lifeline I watched roll past in all my prior visits over more than two decades.
Without these supplies literally millions would starve before our eyes.
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4 Comments on “Ethiopia may face famine greater than 1984”
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Dear readers, in 1984 the ” dereg regime ” was trying to hide the famine from the world because the gov had been marked the 10th aniversary of the Ethiopian revolution and did not want to spoil the mood of the festival. However, the famine outbreak and took the life of millions.
To day the situation is completely changed, the current Gov has admitted that there is short of rain and some 6 million people are requiring food. on top this , the Gov has been taking the necessary action to control the famine in collaboration with UN/WFP . Recently , 44761mton of wheat is arrived at DJ PORT by A vessel called “Liberity glory ” and is being dispatched to different location in Ethiopia . There fore, pals Do not deter the effort of the Gov and do not be pessimist.
i completelly disagree. every one is working hard to make poverty a history with a country wide vission. it is the Millennium development goal. there is progress and you too know it . show some positive attitude…….
“This time old friends — survivors of that earlier tragedy”…come on the famine took place and the re is also a big challenge but addressing those friends of yours just the way you did is a kind of hasty generalization. For you may be all older ethiopians are survivors of that famine. have you ever heard of entitlment failure?…that was what has happened back then so don’t tell me that there was not enough back then…
Thanks
I think the account on the current drought seems a bit exaggerated. But no one could doubt that there is high crop failure especially in the eastern and north eastern parts of the country. This problem could also be compounded by the high inflation in food crops. The problem could also be so sever for urban lower and lower-middle class.