Why is Ethiopia still insecure?

By Abeje Tesfaye | June 27, 2008

Ethiopia has a long history of recurring and devastating famine and food security problems. On the surface it appears that erratic weather conditions have repeatedly triggered large-scale cattle and crop failures for the predominate subsistence farmers. Agricultural production is highly variable and vulnerable to climatic variations and reports of poor rains presumed to drought followed by graphic pictures of famine. However, to portray ecological factors as the sole cause of Ethiopia’s recurring predicament is to vastly oversimplify the situation. Long and recurrent conflicts, poor infrastructure, weak market system, and seasonal migration patterns account to the ever-increasing food security problems in the country. This article hopes to briefly assess the complex nature of these factors over the agrarian communities and shade a light on what ought to be done to curb the devastative impacts.

Some scalars believes that famine incidences caused by drought in Ethiopia goes back to the 11th century and some even refer as far back as 253 B.C. Between 1900 and now, about 18 famine periods were registered in the country’s history. In most instances famine and hunger are both rooted in food insecurity. It is usual to witness seasonal hunger, usually in the months just before the coming harvest. People become weakened as a result of not having had adequate food for days. When hunger persists for a longer period, covering a large number of the population and resulting in mass migration and death, it then becomes famine.

In the early 1980s, many parts of Ethiopia were experiencing famine. In 1984, as fighting in and around Eritrea compounded the food security problems throughout the country. After continuing drought in 1985, famine had spread throughout Ethiopia by 1986, in spite of food-relief efforts. On average, over 5 million people have been enlisted for daily food relief year after year over the last two decades; even when weather conditions have been favorable. However, the current and on going food-insecurity may not be simply attributed to the appalling weather problems. As in the past, the near-famine conditions at present arise from a deadly cocktail of conflicts, seasonal migrations, access to market and infrastructure as well as increasing impact of HIV/AIDS.

The 2000 boarder dispute with Eritrea and the ongoing instabilities with Somalia had impacted on the availability and use of all resources. During the boarder conflict an estimated 10 million people in Ethiopia and 1 million people in Eritrea were affected, displaced, and were subjected to food insecurity and provided with food aid. Armed groups from the neighboring Somalia had created instability and displacement of thousands of pastoralists from the neighboring region of Ethiopia.

Ethnic based conflict has also exacerbated the food crisis faced by thousands of people in the nation. For instance fighting between rival groups in Afar and Oromya regions has forced nomadic pastoralists away from their traditional water supplies. The four main ethnic groups - the Issa, the Kereyu, the Afar and the Ittu – are bitter rivals whose fierce clashes over water spots, pasture and land have left hundreds dead. The seasonal movement of the Borena communities in southern part of the country has led them to come in conflict with the communities in the neighboring Kenya and lose of many lives. These conflicts forced pastoralists to change their usual migration patterns and most importantly they were denied access to either traditional water points and wells or grazing areas, or both together. The pastoralists keep on roving from place to place to escape from the persistent droughts and such extensive movement of these communities to the already populated high land areas of Oromya, and Amhara put them in conflict with local host communities over meager resources and further worsen the food security problems.

In the vast desert areas of Afar, Somalia, and Borena areas the predicament of pastoralists and traders is aggravated by the poor functioning of the market system. The evidence here reinforces the hypothesis that food security is more a question of accessibility than availability. Inadequate roads and transport structures to the sparsely populated desert area; lack of access to credit facility due to seasonal mobility and lack of market information make both marketing and export of cattle and cattle products and food distribution in time of crisis time consuming and expensive. Without market information, traders are confined to their own locality and pricing of cattle and cattle products fluctuate given the season and availability of cattle in time of Draught. Thus, pastoralists still caught in a poverty trap and forced to highly vulnerable famine and food security problems.

Given deep and persistent poverty in Ethiopia, HIV/AIDS will further strain food insecurity coping mechanisms through its enormous and complex impacts. It is projected that the total number of orphans will be above 1.8 million by 2007 and more than 2.5 million in 2014. The most immediate effects of HIV/AIDS are experienced at the individual and household levels. The effects have many facets: illness, physical and psychological pain and suffering, health care and costs, income loss, reduced household productivity, death. During episodes of illness, household financial resources are diverted to pay for medical treatment and eventually to meet funeral and mourning costs. Such resources may otherwise be used to purchase consumables, complementary agricultural inputs or occasional extra labor. AIDS-affected households were found to spend between 11.6 and 16.4 hours per week in agriculture, compared with a mean of 33.6 hours for non-AIDS-affected households.

Although the government is able to design early warning systems, extensive distribution of modern farm inputs through extension to the sedentary farmers, no specific attention was drawn targeting the mobile pastoral communities in remote areas. Providing the basic institutional support and food aid to the nomadic pastoralists is highly problematic as they wander long distances in search of water and pasture. That means any intervention must keep track of where the nomads are so that they can be reached. To make things worse, for the vast majority of pastoralists, accessing them in time of crisis take months due to coordination and structural problems within the government bureaucracy.

Since the food-security emergency began in 2002/03 with collaborative effort of government and its development partners, humanitarian assistance has clearly saved lives of thousands of displaced. It has done little, however, to preserve or enhance livelihoods, which are seriously threatened. Only in Afar there were about 443,000 rural people in need of emergency assistance only in 2005. This amounts to 35 percent of the region's population, and is more than 75 percent higher than the 2004 requirements. According to the Regional Crises Management Committee (RCMC), since year before the number of people requiring emergency food aid may increase to about 540,000, with an additional 100,000 people needing close monitoring as the current situation is deteriorating fast.

Addressing food insecurity in Ethiopia requires a multifaceted multicultural long term approach. Food security problem has many faced and is rolling since 1970s. Unless the root causes are adequately addressed now, the scourge of food shortages will continue to blight. For the agrarian, life with their cattle’s is continuous struggle and is the only sources of income. Without any government support or insurance against cattle and crop failure, agrarian way of life remains a precarious and undependable way of life.

Access to decision making, culturally and environmentally appropriate forms of local administrative, social service provisions, administrative practice and policies as well as participatory resource sharing structures believed to affect efforts to bring sustainable peace and cooperation between the different ethnic groups in the regions. For instance understanding the dynamics over the competing and disputed claims over access and benefit from the main Ethio-Djbuti transport route, which hub the nation’s main import/export trade, which is often security alerts, will reduce tendency to conflicts.


The past decade also witnessed ever increasing calls for revisiting short and long-term development policies and strategies of the government towards the sector. The complexity and near illusiveness of the agricultural development polices that the governments has sought remains vicious and unable to dislodge the farmers from persistent food security problems. Significant structural reforms both at national and regional levels required to speed up voluntary settlement and urbanization, adopt culturally sensitive conflict prevention mechanisms as well as involving the private sector in development activates like irrigation based commercial crop production and investment on salt extraction.

Concerted efforts mast be made in the following areas to timely identify, coordinate, and act to famine and food security problems among the pastoral communities. Culturally acceptable mechanisms for peaceful settlement of disputes over resource and decision making must be incorporated in local administration system. To access market and transportation of goods and that food finds its way from areas of surplus to those of deficit; the government needs to improve the regions inadequate transport and communication networks system. Alternative source of income in non pastoral sectors must be supported on the side of economic policy and strategy. Also special attention is needed and concerted effort must be made for environmental rehabilitation and protection both for ecological as well as tourism purposes.


The writer can be reached at abeju2003@yahoo.com