Ethiopia in Crysis

Famine threatens, they say







Famine is extreme scarcity of food, and while outright famine has not arrived, food shortages and malnutrition are a present reality for much of the country. The line between famine and lack is irrelevant for those who are starving. A famine on the scale of 1984, when Band Aid and Live Aid raised about $150M in relief for Ethiopia, is still unlikely. Logistics and medical understanding have improved. But the conditions haven't changed.

Too many people on too little land with too little, and too volatile, rainfall. Poor governance has resulted in failing to increase Ethiopia's hard-currency earnings. It has virtually no serious private business- with few jobs outside the state sector. Almost three quarters of the population may be under- or unemployed. 80% of Ethiopia's population of 80M people live off the land. They are facing a possible doubling of their population by 2050. Farming methods are still too basic to sustain it even when the rains are good.

In Goru Gutu, in Eastern Ethiopia, the average daily labouring wage is 80 cents, not enough to live on. They till soil by hand, dig ditches, and do whatever it takes to buy a few cups of grain to keep their families alive. Now, no one is eating. There were hailstorms, rains that came too late, then rains that fell too heavily, as well as infestations of insects. It is this way across the South and East. So now 4.5M more people need emergency food on top of the 5M that already receive aid, according to the UN World Food Programme.

One individual, Hindiya, 18 months old, is puffed up by edema, a protein deficiency. If she survives, she may still suffer mental and physical stunting, heart disorders, and a weakened immune system. The skin on her calves and heel has split wide open, putting her in excruciating pain. No one in her family has ever eaten meat.

The government owns the land, and yearns to shed its reputation as the world's poster child for famine. The only future is resettlement to areas of more fertile land. Goro Gutu would have to move 4000 people out a year, with an ungrowing population; however, the population might grow, and the government only has a budget to shift a few hundred.

Ethiopia's chances of progress look bleak.

Monty Python's Flying Circus sings, "Always look on the bright side of life!"
Just think what a few billionaires investing in a situation like this might do. And I don't mean buy the world a Coke, although that might be cool, as well. Structurally, the world has got to get with it. 80 cents??