EMERGENCY UPDATE
Ethiopia
Eritrea
April 2000
Sudan
Tigray
Region
Red Sea
N. Wollo
zone
Djbouti
Wollo
Amhara S.
zone
Region
Addis Ababa
ETHIOPIA
Wolayita
Konso
Kenya
East Haraghe Jijiga
zone
zone
Oromiya
Region
Fik
zone
Somali
Region
Gode
zone
Somalia
at a glance
KEY ISSUES
AFFECTING
CHILDREN
KEY THEMES FOR
SAVE THE CHILDREN
UK IN ETHIOPIA

at least 4 million children will suffer from food shortages this year; the
situation in most critical in Somali region where 3-5 people are reported
to be dying every day

diseases associated with malnutrition are likely to increase.

the cumulative impact of consecutive droughts and crop failures is
pushing more and more families into poverty and destitution.

in 1999 Save the Children provided over 36,000 metric tonnes (MT) of
food aid. This year, the organisation has already secured and is
distributing 16,500 MT of food and has applied for a further 37,000 MT

4 nutritional teams have been deployed to some of the most vulnerable
areas in the north to closely monitor the situation of children

Save the Children has approached donors for supplementary food for
8,000 children and therapeutic food for 1,000 malnourished children

The organisation is implementing strategies that help Ethiopia to
overcome its food security problems in the longer term.
KEY PARTNERS
Save the Children programmes emphasise the importance of strengthening
local capacity. Projects are carried out in partnership with government
departments, local and international non-governmental organisations, and
communities.
summary
Ethiopia is on the brink of famine. Food aid, clean water, and medical
asisstance are desparately needed now. In the longer term seeds, tools
and help to rebuild livelihoods must be provided if further crisies are to be
avoided. Donors are responding to the government’s appeal for food, but
even if all the aid requested is delivered, getting it to those in need is
problematic. Compounding the problem is the fact that this year’s belg rains,
expected in February, arrived 6 weeks late. As a result, a further 2 million
people may be at risk, bringing the total in need of assistance to 10 million.
current crisis
FOOD CRISIS
Ethiopia again faces a famine. The situation is most critical in the south
where about two million people are at risk and there are already reports of
starvation: in parts of Somali Region 5, 400 people died in March and at
present 3-5 people are dying every day. However, there is also deep
concern about the situation in the northern and eastern highlands, where five
million people will soon be at risk of famine unless food aid is provided now.
In January the government issued an appeal for 900,000 MT of food aid, the
largest issued since 1992, a particularly bad year. It covers the needs of 8
million people affected by drought and by the conflict with Eritrea. The
current crisis is not new – it is the result of a succession of poor harvests,
combined with increasing poverty and destitution.
THE SOUTH
Drought, combined with on-going difficulties with access to water, has had a
devastating impact on the pastoral rangelands in the south. There is now an
advanced emergency in parts Somali Region (principally Gode Zone), and in
the Borena and Bale Zones of Oromiya Region. People are moving to towns
in search of assistance and aid workers report severe malnutrition and
deaths from starvation.
This immediate cause of the crisis in the South is the failure of the deyr rains
in October-November. This caused a loss of grazing land and severe
shortages in water for human and animal consumption. In addition, crop
production in rain-fed areas has been insignificant for the past two years.
The death toll of livestock has been extraordinary: at least 90 per cent of
cattle and 65 per cent of sheep have already died in some areas. There has
also been a decline in livestock prices due to their poor condition, diminished
demand for livestock in local markets, and a corresponding increase in
cereal prices. (Cereals form the major part of the nomadic diet during dry
season.)
HIGHLAND
AREAS
In the highly-populated Northern and Eastern Highlands the current crisis is
the result of a complete failure of the belg rains (February-May) in 1999.
This year’s belg is now quite late and is forecast to be erratic, compounding
the problem still further. This is the fourth consecutive year that these vital
rains have failed.
The failure of the 1999 belg led to crop and livestock losses in North and
South Wollo, South Tigray, North Shoa, East and West Hararghe. Yields for
the main kremt season (July-November) throughout the country also
suffered. Food aid distributed through 1999 and this year helped to prevent a
deterioration in nutritional standards.
Given the lack of rain earlier in the season, many farmers were unable to
plant high-yielding, long-cycle crops. Some farmers in the highlands
attempted to make up for a failed belg by planting short-cycle varieties.
However, in the high altitudes these crops are vulnerable to extreme
weather conditions such as heavy rain, frost and hail.
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SAVE THE CHILDREN EMERGENCY UPDATE: ETHIOPIA FOOD CRISIS 2000
DISPLACED
PEOPLE
CUMULATIVE
IMPACT OF
CRISES
The 350,000 people displaced by the war with Eritrea are particularly
vulnerable to food shortages – the majority are entirely dependent on relief
assistance. In 1999, less than two-thirds of the food needed reached the
displaced in Tigray, resulting in a food basket that was both inadequate and
unbalanced. Save the Children undertook a nutritional and food security
assessment of the displaced in August 1999. The survey found “acceptable”
levels of child malnutrition, but a high risk of malnutrition and morbidity
among younger children.
The immediate cause of Ethiopia’s crisis is 3 years of drought, but the
current food shortages are also a symptom of more deep-rooted problems.
Increasing poverty and destitution has pushed several millions of families in
Ethiopia to the limit. They can barely sustain themselves, even in a good
year. Many families are now without livestock, and plough oxen and seeds to
farm their land. They are increasingly vulnerable to any fluctuation in the
weather. Unless these underlying issues are tackled, food crises will
continue to occur for many years to come.
Research by Save the Children suggests that families in vulnerable areas
are becoming poorer and that many have exhausted all their normal coping
mechanisms. This trend is affecting all income groups: wealthier households
have been forced to sell-off their herds, have stopped hiring agricultural
labourers, and have started collecting water and firewood themselves rather
than employing others to do it for them. This has had a knock-on effect on
poorer income groups who normally depend on wage labour.
DISTRIBUTION
PROBLEMS
Distributing food to those in need is hampered by two factors. First, although
substantial food aid has been promised (approximately 570,000 MT has
been pledged so far), very little has actually been delivered. Following the
1984/85 famine Ethiopia established an Emergency Food Security Reserve
to act as a buffer. However, the Reserve currently at a critically low level,
containing just 51,000 MT of stock of which 43,000 MT is being withdrawn.
This is less than is required for a single month’s distribution. Donors have
now promised substantial deliveries in April, May June and July – over
100,000 MT is due each month – and this will go some way to alleviating
immediate food needs.
Second, even if food is delivered, getting it into the country and distributing it
to remote regions is problematic. Ethiopia has lost access to Massawa and
Assab ports in Eritrea. However, substantial investment in Djibouti has
increased its capacity, and the World Food Programme is also exploring the
possibility of using the port of Berbera in Somalia.
Last year, the maximum monthly distribution within Ethiopia was 64,000 MT,
and this amount severely stretched available trucking capacity. This year, up
to 120,000 MT in a single month will need to be distributed - and this does
not include stocks that must be pre-positioned before the main rains start in
July, when roads become impassable.
SAVE THE CHILDREN EMERGENCY UPDATE: ETHIOPIA FOOD CRISIS 2000
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background
POVERTY
Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world with appalling poverty
and large areas permanently vulnerable to food insecurity. It has the world’s
lowest average income - just $100 per person per year – and the
government faces an external debt of more than $10 billion, equivalent to
1 More than half the population lives below the poverty
131
per cent
ACCESS
TO of GNP.
ACCESS
TO
SOCIAL
SOCIAL
line, and about 30 per cent live in absolute poverty.
SERVICES
FOOD
SECURITY
ANALYIS
SERVICES
Food insecurity remains the principal obstacle to development in Ethiopia.
Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, but over a third of rural
households farm less than 0.5 hectares of land, and the majority of farmers
are dependent on highly variable rainfall. In the face of a rapidly growing
population, per capita food production and domestic food availability have
been declining since the 1960s. Even in a year of excellent harvests,
approximately 26 million Ethiopians – more than 40 per cent of the farming
population – do not produce enough food and income to meet their families’
nutritional requirements2. The consequences are evident in the very high
levels of under-nutrition in Ethiopia. According to the World Bank’s Social
Sector Report (1998), almost two-thirds of children under six years of age
suffer from stunting, and over ten per cent from wasting. Furthermore, in rural
areas, the stunting figures have increased, from 60 per cent in 1983 to over 68
per cent in 1995/96.
People are more vulnerable to food shortages today than they were at the
time of the 1984/85 famine. Save the Children research suggests that this is
because land holdings are getting smaller as the population increases; basic
assets remain scarce as poor harvests force households to sell what
belongings they have in order to purchase food; and farmers are
increasingly buying, rather than growing, their own food leaving them
dependent on earning income. However, employment opportunities are also
declining in the face of rapidly increasing demand.
A further problem is that changing weather patterns are leading to shorter
and weaker belg rains. Some farmers in the extreme highlands are totally
dependent on belg rains to plant short-cycle crops that are harvested before
the heavy rains and frost in July and August. But many more farmers plant
their main, long-cycle crop during the belg rains. If the belg fails, these
farmers are also forced to switch from long-cycle to short-cycle crops planted
during the later rains. These short-cycle varieties produce far lower yields.
There are also structural causes behind food insecurity. Central and western
regions of Ethiopia often produce a grain surplus – indeed, Ethiopia has in
the recent past exported food to neighbouring countries. However, a poor
road network and the lack of inter-regional trade means that this food rarely
reaches areas with a food deficit.
The other key weakness in Ethiopia’s economy is its dependence on coffee
as an export. The price of coffee on the international market is notoriously
1
2
World Bank, Entering the 21st Century - World Development Report 1999/2000 Oxford University Press 1999
“Special Report: FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment to Ethiopia” , 21 December 1998
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SAVE THE CHILDREN EMERGENCY UPDATE: ETHIOPIA FOOD CRISIS 2000
volatile, and is determined mainly by production in Latin American countries.
If Latin America has a poor harvest, the price of coffee goes up and
Ethiopia’s foreign-exchange earnings rise, while a good harvest in Latin
America has the opposite effect.
WAR WITH
ERITREA
In May 1998, a border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia escalated into
an armed conflict. The war has resulted in an estimated 40,000 – 60,000
deaths and created some 350,000 homeless people, either deported
refugees from Eritrea or internally displaced within Ethiopia. However, the
war is not the cause of the food crisis, and it is important that the
international community does not use the war as an excuse for failing to
respond to food aid needs.
SAVE THE CHILDREN EMERGENCY UPDATE: ETHIOPIA FOOD CRISIS 2000
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Save the Children’s response
RELIEF
Save the Children responded to food shortages in mid-1999 by providing
36,000 MT of relief grain in North and South Wollo, Wag Hamra and East
Haraghe. In Region 3 (Amhara), Save the Children provided 1,600 MT of
supplementary food (for severely malnourished children) and 12 portable
warehouses.
This year, the organisation has secured and is distributing 16,509 MT of food
aid and 300 MT of seeds in the Wollo Highlands of Amhara region. Of the
16,509 MT already secured, 6,240 MT is from the UK’s Department for
International Development (DfID), 5,269 MT is from the EU, and 5,000 MT is
from the Dutch government.
Save the Children is also applying for further supplies:




The EU has been approached for 25,000 MT of food for North and South
Wollo and 5,000 MT for East Haraghe (in the highlands);
DfID has been asked for 7,000 MT of food aid for Fik and Gode zones in
Somali region;
OFDA has been asked for supplementary food for 2,000 children and
therapeutic food for 70 children in South Wollo, and supplementary food
for 6,000 children and therapeutic food for 900 children in Fik
DfID has been asked to support the provision of clean water to Fik,
Warder and Degehabour in Somali Region 5.
Save the Children is also assisting the government to develop guidelines on
the targeting of food aid, which aim to ensure that those most in need are
reached.
EMERGENCY
NUTRITION
MONITORING
In response to the major food shortages that emerged last year, Save the
Children deployed five emergency nutrition monitoring teams: four in Wollo
and one in East Hararghe. They produced monthly updates on the nutritional
status of children in these areas, which in turn informed ongoing relief
operations. Reports showed that the quantity of relief food provided was far
from adequate, and that rations meant for one family were being shared
among many. By early autumn 1999, the nutritional status of children had
deteriorated to an alarming level. These findings were supported by a major
assessment of the impact of food aid using the Household Food Economy
methodology (see below), completed in February 2000 3. It found that not
enough food aid is being distributed and that rations are far too small.
This year, Save the Children will continue its monitoring of children’s
nutritional status in the Northern Highlands. Four nutritional teams have
been deployed to vulnerable areas in the highlands to monitor the situation
of children and assess whether relief supplies are meeting nutritional needs.
Save the Children has also maintained an active involvement in monitoring
the needs of families displaced by the Eritrean war. A September 1999
survey revealed that nutrition status was relatively stable but that the
population was entirely dependent on relief food.
3
Mathys, E. “Assessment of the Impact of Food Aid on Household Economies of North Wollo, South Wollo and East
Hararghe
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NUTRITIONAL
SURVEILLANCE
PROGRAMME
PREPAREDNESS
Save the Children’s monitoring work is well-established in Ethiopia. The
Nutritional Surveillance Programme, set up after the 1973-4 famine,
developed into a nation-wide monitoring system that provided early warning
of developing food crises and confirmation of existing food shortages. The
programme also makes extensive use of the Household Food Economy
Approach, developed by Save the Children in Ethiopia and elsewhere, which
provides more detailed information about food security at a household level.
The 1999 food crisis arose in part because of inadequate assessments in
1998 – both the government and donors were convinced that 1999 would be
a year of minimum food aid needs and as a result gave very little in food aid
contributions. Only a few voices, including Save the Children’s, warned that
there might be problems.
In the event a major famine was avoided, though only narrowly, by the
existence of a large food security reserve. This allowed the government to
begin delivering food aid as soon as it became clear that harvests had failed,
rather than waiting on new food aid shipments. Save the Children works
closely with the government’s Disaster Prevention and Preparedness
Commission (DPPC) to maintain the reserve (by encouraging donor
contributions) and to monitor and respond to potential food shortages.
DESTITUTION
STUDY
Understanding the underlying problems of poverty and destitution is crucial
to developing long-term solutions to Ethiopia’s food security problems. As
each new emergency develops, there is a tendency to ignore the chronic
problems that underpin it. Research suggests that livelihoods are becoming
increasingly unsustainable, because of the following trends:





Consecutive poor harvests in recent years, with an inadequate relief
response
Household coping strategies are exhausted – families have sold most of
their assets and livestock
Families do not have adequate resources, such as plough oxen and
seeds, to prepare land
Employment opportunities are limited, so few can earn a cash income
Farms are getting smaller, and thus soil is becoming over-used and
degraded, and families are unable to meet annual food needs from their
own production.
Save the Children is planning to coordinate a ‘destitution’ study that will look
at these trends in greater detail.
SAVE THE CHILDREN IN ETHIOPIA
Save the Children first delivered food aid to Abyssinia, as Ethiopia was then called, in
1932; programme work begun during the famine of 1973-74. Today, the focus of SCF’s
long-term development work in Ethiopia is food security, that is, helping rural families
achieve sustained and secure access to food. There are projects on monitoring and
surveillance, improving agriculture, livestock health and emergency relief and
rehabilitation. Other work includes health, child rights, education and community water
development. For a more comprehensive overview of SCF’s long-term work in Ethiopia,
including food security work, see the Ethiopia Country Report, 1999.
SAVE THE CHILDREN EMERGENCY UPDATE: ETHIOPIA FOOD CRISIS 2000
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