Famine Case Study: ETHIOPIA

Famine Case Study: ETHIOPIA

1. Famine occurred in the South Wollo region of Ethiopia in 1962/3, 1974-6, & 1984/5. It has had a number of social, economic and environmental impacts

2. CAUSES

   • Heavily populated: 2.5 million, and cultivated
   • most live in highlands, away from risk of Malaria, however, nights are cold, and frost destroys many crops
   • land has been divided & sub-divided due to increasing pop. - farmers try to grow as much as they can on their tiny patch of land = less tree cover, more erosion & land exhaustion, so productivity is reduced
   • unreliable 'Belg' (series of small rain showers between Feb and April), unfortunately it failed to rain the past few years, so there was a DROUGHT. Farmers tried to plant later in July, but faced the likelihood that their crops would freeze in Oct/ Nov before harvesting

3. EFFECTS

   • Herders moved in search of water/ fresh pature = too much pressure on these areas (Environmental )
   • Thousands of Families abandoned their land and headed for the cities - many camps had to be set up, e.g. outskirts of Denan contained at least 13000 people (Social)
   • Large amounts of foreign aid were required to run these camps - 2000, 785,000 South Wolloyes needed food aid (Economic)
   • Increase in food prices, which has been exacerbated by the fall in average annual income, from $190 in 1984, to $108 today (Economic and Social)
   • Milk became Scarce (main component of diet)
   • Lack of food & water - thousands of cattle, sheep, camels, and goats died - death of livestock led to deterioration in people's nutritional status (Economic and Social)
   • Rate of malnutrition estimated at over 50% (Social)
   • Thousands of deaths over the years (Social)

4. SOLUTIONS

   • Government supports three-fold strategy of improving food aid, increasing agricultural inputs, & diversitfication through agro-industry
   • Food Aid systems have improved, but are dependent on Donor Head Offices
   • Nevertheless, farmers complain that with bad harvests they cant pay back loans for fertilizer & seeds without further impoverishing themselves
   • Still, each year, hundreds of thousands of people require some food assistance & the figures grow each year. In 2000, about 785,000 South Wolloyes needed food aid