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ACT Alert
Ethiopia
- 1/2002
Drought
Leads to Severe Food Shortages
Geneva,
29 August, 2002
The Northeastern lowlands of Ethiopia and especially the Afar and
Oromya and some parts of Somali regions are facing a serious hunger
situation due to drought. The failure of the Belg rains and the delayed
commencement of the Meher rains led to crop failure and adversely
affected the health of livestock. The government of Ethiopia through
its Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC) has stated
that a total of 348,340 MT of food will be required for the period
July to December, 2002. Some of the indicators already showing of
an impending food disaster mentioned by the ACT/JRP members are;
- The nutritional status of children in most of the areas is plummeting
(especially Afar and Somali).
- People are migrating in search of food and work.
- District towns are under mounting pressure from people in search
of daily-paid labor or resorting to begging,
- Price of staple crops have increased dramatically.
- Competition to sell firewood and livestock is depressing the prices,
- Livestock prices are low compared to cereal - indicating a deteriorating
terms of trade for pastoral population
- Livestock death reported from both low and high altitude areas
(the reason for livestock death in high altitude area is not yet
known).
- Lack of milk production for another year
- Rising tension and conflict between pastoral population due to
competition for water and pasture for livestock
Field visits by ACT/JRP forum members field staff, the United Nations
Country Team, the UN-EU as well as reports from the Church units in
affected areas, all conclude that the situation is critical and that
emergency interventions are needed to avoid a disastrous level of food
deprivation.
According to the ACT members in the country, currently about 20 teams
from the Government, NGOs, donor community and UN agencies are on
an assessment mission countrywide. The mission is expected to return
from the field next week. In addition to this, the NCA representative
will travel to the southern part of Ethiopia to assess the situation
in that part of the country. A needs assessment team headed by the
JRP Co-ordinator will visit the lowlands of Bale zone to collect information
and assess the situation in those areas. The Ethiopia Orthodox Church
(EOC) staff will travel to their operation areas in Gondar also next
week to assess the situation in the highlands. ACT/JRP feel that in
two weeks time they will be able to have detailed information on the
current situation. They also feel they have the responsibility to
help alleviate the suffering of the poor farmers in Ethiopia who have
no choice other than depending on outside assistance at this moment.
With the information from the field, the ACT/JRP partners have agreed
to revise the current ACT appeal so that the ACT partners respond
to the immediate problems of the drought affected communities.
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