Tag: Famine

Ethiopia Still Requires Food Aid, But Situation Is Improving

Its amazing what peace can actually do. In Ethiopia, crop production in 2004 was 24 percent higher than in the 2003, and 21 percent higher than the average of the previous five years according to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization and World Food Program.

Ethiopia is not yet food self-sufficient, however, but it is slowly edging to that point. In 2004, for example, Ethiopia required 965,000 tons of food to help prevent hunger among 7 million people who lacked enough food. This year it will only require about 387,500 tons of food to aid 2.2 million people who are at risk of not having enough food.

In part, that food aid is needed due to drought in the eastern and southern parts of the country. But in the northern and western country — with Ethiopia’s war with Eritrea over for the moment — farmers were able to concentrate on improving yields with better seeds and fertilizer.

Source:

Ethiopia’s crop production up 24%. The BBC, February 2, 2005.

Burundi Introduces Tax to Cope With Famine

In January, Burundi imposed a special tax of 8 percent on the salary of ministers and lawmakers and a 2 percent tax on lower-level civil servants in an effort to raise money to forestall famine in northeastern Burundi.

More than 650,000 people faced severe food shortages in the Burundi provinces of Muyinga and Kirundo due to drought. At least 100 people were reported to have died since November 2004 due to the food shortages.

In some parts of those two provinces, there have been effectively no crops due to the drought since April 2004. Additionally, disease apparently wiped out the normally drought-resistant cassava crop. According to the BBC, many people in the region are crossing into neighboring Rwanda for work and then bringing back food to feed their families.

Providing enough food to forestall more deaths could cost upward of $50 million.

Sources:

Burundi approves new famine tax. The BBC, January 13, 2005.

Burundi battles with food shortages. The BBC, January 19, 2005.

Locust Swarms Diminished, But Effects Remain for West Africa

2004 saw the worst locust swarms in West Africa in 15 years. Toward the end of the year, the swarms began to become less ever as internationals efforts to control began to have their effect, but in their wake the locusts left problems that many West African nations will have to deal with for years to come.

Mauritania was the worst hit by the 2004 locust plague, with much of the country’s crops for the year lost to the insects and lower-than-expected rainfall. The World Food Program estimated earlier this year that 60 percent of Mauritanians will not have enough to eat without emergency aid due to the locust swarms. It is trying to raise $31 million to fund food aid and other projects in Mauritania in 2005 and 2006.

World Food Program director for Mauritania, Sory Ouane, told The BBC,

Entire harvests where people have invested their money, time and toil for so long, are simply gone. We must act now. The right assistance now for the people of Mauritania will go a long way — not only to save lives today but also to help people avoid falling into a cycle of food crises that could last for years to come.

Coming up with aid might prove difficult. The WFP reported that almost all aid to Africa disappeared as donor nations focused their aid attention on the nations ravaged by December’s tsunami.

Sources:

Appeal for locust-hit Mauritania. The BBC, January 17, 2005.

Living With Locusts – The Bitter Irony Of Mauritania’s Food Crisis. Press Release, World Food Program, March 7, 2005.

Crops Cold Comfort For Hungry Refugees. Reuters, February 3, 2005.

Africa Fights Locust Plagues. Brian Handwerk, National Geographic Channel, January 7, 2005.

Forty Million in Danger of Starvation

The United Nations recently revised its estimate of the number of people facing food insecurity to 40 million as problems in Africa continue to mount.

In the Horn of Africa alone, 14 million people face starvation unless the World Food Program begins receiving donor aid soon. Ten million of those at risk are in Ethiopia which, like other countries in the region, has been hit hard by drought. According to WFP executive director James Morris,

At least 10 million people will need food aid just in Ethiopia. But if this month’s rains stop early, up to 14 million people there will require urgent assistance.

These figures are large and dramatic and the international community should take notice. Unless we come to grips with this problem very soon we face the real possibility of witnessing a devastating wave of human suffering and death as early as next year.

Morris chalked up the Horn’s problems simply to drought, conveniently ignoring the destabilizing effect of ongoing hostilities between Ethiopia and Eritrea which has made it difficult to sustain an agricultural industry in either country.

Source:

Aid please as Horn of Africa raises hungry to 40m. James Astill, The Guardian, October 29, 2002.