Nipate
Forum => Kenya Discussion => Topic started by: RVtitem on December 13, 2015, 11:14:08 PM
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10 millions of Ethiopians face starvation due to famine. Ethiopia government has got used to foreign aid.
unlike its neighbour eritrea (also known as north korea of africa for adoption of "communist policy", which have earned it western sunctions), Ethiopia continue to be an ally of the west.
Eritrea inder democratic dictator Afwerki continue to prosper have set a more humane system that shun western aid. Afwerki is quoted saying that western aid continue to cripple africa ability to innovate ways of self sufficiency in food. This seems to be very true, even in the context of kenya which has left the entire of nothern frontier to the mercies of western NGO.
These NGO do not solve underlying problems but continue to thrive under negro laziness and luck of initiatives. Governments also see these organizations as source of foreign currency, employment and other....but these few benefits do not outweigh the feeling of independence and self determination.
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The home of the AU headquarters. Base of "African solutions for African problems!". And always starving.
We have heard a great deal about how this place has supposedly done well from turning East---electricity, dams, roads, railways, etc. Anything that Kung Fu would lend money for. But they apparently forgot to food themselves. So now it is, *yet again*, time to turn East: yellow maize from America.
When do people start to figure out that feeding themselves and ensuring their food security is the most basic thing and should come before all else? There are really just three options to choose from:
(1) Work at it, and feed yourself.
(2) Rely on endless begging.
(3) Starve to death.
In Kenya we though that somebody had at least made a stab at ensuring food security: the Galana Project, one million acres, Vision 2030, etc. Jubilee leading the nation. The only problem seems to be that somebody misunderstood the context of "eating", and it looks like people have been eating plenty even before any food has been produced:
A parliamentary committee now wants the Jubilee administration's million-acre Galana-Kulalu irrigation scheme suspended because of failed pilot projects. The MPs said the project had already gobbled up at least Sh7 billion without tangible results.
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Nooru said the MPs had called for the suspensions when they realised that the feasibility study had been inflated by Sh200 million.
www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000184394/mps-want-bungled-galana-irrigation-project-suspended
RVtitem wrote:
Eritrea under democratic dictator Afwerki continue to prosper have set a more humane system that shun western aid.
Looks like they don't know about that "humane system" and aren't starving there because they are all running away. Eritrea is currently one of the largest suppliers of those taking desperate steps to flee the West, and it has been for some years. Figures from the UN indicate that about 9% of the population has run off in recent years.
Oct 2015:
Eritreans now make up the fourth largest group of asylum seekers in the European Union, and second largest group to arrive in Italy by boat after the Syrians.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/eritrea/2015-10-26/out-Eritrea
http://www.thenation.com/article/europe-is-trying-to-rid-itself-of-the-eritrean-refugee-crisis/
http://www.unhcr.org/546606286.html
24 June 2015 – A United Nations-appointed commission of inquiry today warned that the dire situation in Eritrea can no longer be ignored and called on the UN Human Rights Council to maintain close scrutiny on violations committed in the Horn of Africa nation that may constitute crimes against humanity.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=51239#.Vm3dqZVdHL8
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Africa rising kabisa
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www.ibtimes.co.uk/ethiopia-10-million-risk-starvation-east-africa-faces-worst-drought-30-years-1532599
I think most of infrastructure development on ethiopia have not started to run. And it might take time to trickle, even after they are launched.
The GERD project, which should churn out 15000 gwh/year of power is still under construction. Gibe 3 dam was inaugurated last October. Egypt still has issues with some of these projects.
www.dailynewsegypt.com/2015/12/13/renaissance-dam-talks-end-without-agreement/
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Meanwhile, back in Kenya, home of Galana, this is the news today:
Nearly two million children below the age of five years are at risk of not achieving their full body growth as a result of chronic nutritional deficiency, a survey has shown.
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Releasing the data at Bamba Primary School in Kilifi during the launch of a maternal and child nutrition programme yesterday, UNICEF Nutrition Specialist Sicily Matu said one out of four children under the age of five is stunted due to inadequate feeding.
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/health/article/2000185281/survey-2-million-children-at-risk-of-stunting
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www.ibtimes.co.uk/ethiopia-10-million-risk-starvation-east-africa-faces-worst-drought-30-years-1532599
I think most of infrastructure development on ethiopia have not started to run. And it might take time to trickle, even after they are launched.
The GERD project, which should churn out 15000 gwh/year of power is still under construction. Gibe 3 dam was inaugurated last October. Egypt still has issues with some of these projects.
www.dailynewsegypt.com/2015/12/13/renaissance-dam-talks-end-without-agreement/
Meanwhile, back in Kenya, home of Galana, this is the news today:
Nearly two million children below the age of five years are at risk of not achieving their full body growth as a result of chronic nutritional deficiency, a survey has shown.
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Releasing the data at Bamba Primary School in Kilifi during the launch of a maternal and child nutrition programme yesterday, UNICEF Nutrition Specialist Sicily Matu said one out of four children under the age of five is stunted due to inadequate feeding.
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/health/article/2000185281/survey-2-million-children-at-risk-of-stunting
we have a good explanation here. It seems inept government decided to carry out an experimental project on large scale....that they were trying to find out the best maize variety on a 10,000 acre land!! Even basic science talks of scaling experimental models to reduce cost and other issues. But it's hard to believe this kind of explanation. This Galana project looks like an eating scheme.
www.nation.co.ke/news/MPs-query-poor-harvest-at-Galana/-/1056/2936792/-/3eqhd9z/-/index.html
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When Migrants Flee Progress, Not
War
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/04/22/end-poverty-stifle-happiness-mdgs-mediterranean-eritrea/
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Every country including the US (New Orleans anyone) once in a while get hit by natural calamity. El Nino induced drought is wrecking havoc on Ethiopians.
Let us not laugh at folks dealing with natural calamity but help them.
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While I may agree with you on Ethiopia situation what should we make of uhuruto Galana experiment? An experiment that has sucked billions of shillings mainly on dumb feasibility studies. They should recall ruto biology degree for screwing up Galana together with Koskei.
Every country including the US (New Orleans anyone) once in a while get hit by natural calamity. El Nino induced drought is wrecking havoc on Ethiopians.
Let us not laugh at folks dealing with natural calamity but help them.
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Galana was handed to an Isreali company with expertise on the same. The trial was on 10,000 acres with several varsities of maize. 10,000 acres is small figure considering the gov plans to irrigate 1M acres. I think we should not rush to kill Galana project. Let the expertise deal with this.
While I may agree with you on Ethiopia situation what should we make of uhuruto Galana experiment? An experiment that has sucked billions of shillings mainly on dumb feasibility studies. They should recall ruto biology degree for screwing up Galana together with Koskei.
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Every country including the US (New Orleans anyone) once in a while get hit by natural calamity. El Nino induced drought is wrecking havoc on Ethiopians.
Let us not laugh at folks dealing with natural calamity but help them.
Once in a while? Ethiopians have been starving since when? You yourself once stated that it used to be a "poster child for famine". Apparently it still is.
Yes, natural disasters can happen. But when they have happened enough, it makes sense for people to prepare to deal with them. Apparently that has not been happening in Ethiopia. Looking at the data, I am hard-pressed to find a year in which Ethiopia has not required food aid.
It is not a matter of "laughing". What is being pointed out is that unless Ethiopia (and similar countries) actually focus on food security as a priority, they will continue to starve and beg for food.
Here is how one commentator puts it:
... In the last ten years, Ethiopia’s growth has been in housing and infrastructure; not in food.
Thus, the government in Ethiopia has recently appealed to its international partners for food aid to feed 8.2 million people. According to U. N. reports, the number of people needing help may reach 15 million by 2016.
The regime in Ethiopia always appeals for food aid whenever the country is affected by a drought. Then its international aid partners will deliver the food. This has become routine.
Since the early 1970s, Ethiopia has been affected by a drought frequently. As a result, the country has become dependent on food aid despite its rich potential.
http://www.ethiomedia.com/aa2nov15/4371.html
In fact, Ethiopian non-thinking goes much farther:
Consider the case of South Korea. South Korea has very little of the flat land that is required for large-scale agriculture. It imports most of its food. But, relative to incomes, food is actually very cheap there, and its food security is taken care of. How does it do that? Partly by Korean companies leasing large pieces of land elsewhere---in places where owners apparently can't or won't make good use of it. That includes Ethiopia. And other countries are doing the same in Ethiopia and elsewhere.
Is happening now a real, one-off surprise? Warnings have been plenty. but nobody in Ethiopia seems to have been listening. An example from 2011:
ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopia's leasing of vast swathes of arable land to foreign and state-owned firms risks adding to the millions of people already requiring food aid in the drought-struck region, a US based think-tank warned on Friday.
http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/ethiopia-land-lease-risks-displacement-report
Also from a few years ago:
The Ethiopian government has stated publicly that it wants to sell off three million hectares of farmland in the country to foreign investors, and around one million hectares have already been signed away. The country has approved 815 foreign-financed agricultural projects since 2007 and land is being leased for approximately $1 per year for 2.5 acres.
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In 2005, Ethiopia faced a food crisis, with the total number of victims estimated at several million people. The stage appears to be set for a similar situation when the global community came together in 1985 to collectively assist Ethiopians stricken by one the worst famines in recent history. During that period about one million people died from starvation
http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/ethiopia-land-swap.htm
Here is another story:
Thousands of Ethiopians are being relocated or have already fled as their land is sold off to foreign investors without their consent ...
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Of this, 600,000 ha has been handed on 99-year leases to 10 large Indian companies. Ethiopia has leased an area the size of France to foreign investors since 2008.
Saudi Arabia and others are also doing well off Ethiopian land; currently something like 36 countries (including Kung Fu) are doing well off Ethiopian land. And do these droughts ever affect their productive use of the land, or are they eating off Ethiopian land?
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Eritrea inder democratic dictator Afwerki continue to prosper have set a more humane system that shun western aid. Afwerki is quoted saying that western aid continue to cripple africa ability to innovate ways of self sufficiency in food.
I was intrigued with this idea of Africa's North Korea as some sort of self-sufficient paradise, which the other North Korea too claims it is. So I took a closer look. The place is, and has been getting aid (including food aid) from various places, but it's channeled in a way that is not entirely obvious.
Mr. Afwerki---if that's his real name, then it's quite appropriate---did indeed vow to make his country self-sufficient. To that end, especially around 2011, he kicked out a lot of foreigners. Next? Not entirely what one might have expected.
He then went on to negotiate a Strategic Partnership Cooperation Framework with the UN, under which the "donors" who were kicked out put up most of the money, but because it's coming via the UN, Eritrea is supposedly not getting any "aid" from "donor". And, of course, they don't need food aid; but they have no objection to "nutritional assistance" and "famine-prevention assistance". From the UN.
According to the UN:
The new cooperation framework has budget estimate of USD188 million for the coming four years. Of this amount USD 50 million is from UN Agencies’ core resources and the remaining gap (USD 138 million) to be jointly mobilized with Government from donor community.
http://www.un-eritrea.org/news/donor_briefing.html
The "donor countries", of course, have to tell their taxpayers how their money is being spent; they can't just go around throwing money about, all lumped as "to the UN" or whatever. So if one goes, "donor" by "donor", through the relevant public information, a better picture of the real story emerges. For example:
Project profile: Eritrea - Food and Nutrition Assistance - Development and Peace 2015:
Eritrea is facing a serious humanitarian situation due to the effects on food production of both chronic drought and the exodus of an increasing number of young men to avoid national military service. Although government restrictions make it difficult to assess the situation in Eritrea, current estimates indicate that between 1.4 and 2.7 million Eritreans (out of a population of 6.5 million) will face acute food insecurity in 2015. Global acute malnutrition rates have been reported at above 50%, or more than triple the accepted 'emergency threshold' of 15%, in some rural communities, a situation that is exacerbated by extremely low levels of access to safe water sources and proper sanitation facilities outside urban areas.
http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/cidaweb/cpo.nsf/fWebCSAZEn?ReadForm&idx=00&CC=ER#countryonly
And right now, it looks like Eritrea has decided to accept EU aid, in return for keeping more of its people away from Europe:
The European Union aims to agree on 200 million euros (145.65 million pounds) in development aid for Eritrea by year-end to help stem an exodus of people from the poor Horn of Africa nation to Europe, a senior EU official said on Thursday.
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The new EU programme was drawn up after Asmara offered an opening for renewed cooperation.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-europe-migrants-eritrea-idUKKCN0RH1MU20150917
(From the latest news, it looks like a done deal.)
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On Ethiopia, here's an interesting article from not-too-long-ago, written (as far as I can tell) by an Ethiopian:
Years ago one Ethiopian Diaspora in Washington asked the late Prime minister Meles Zenawi what his vision for the country was. A rather polite and amiable Meles outlined his vision in a very human centered way. He said he hopes that in ten years every Ethiopian will have enough to eat three times a day and after 20 years Ethiopians will not only have enough food but they will also have the luxury of choosing what they eat.
Here we are now. Three years have passed since Meles died in office after 21 years in power. Once again Ethiopia's food crisis is topping the headline. As seasonal rain fails in Eastern and Southern parts of the country, famine is threatening millions of Ethiopians. The UN estimates over 10 million are in need of emergency food aid.
http://www.madote.com/2015/08/the-cause-of-ethiopias-recurrent-famine.html
Why is the Ethiopia government acting so irresponsibly? The answer is simple - because there is no incentive for the government to work hard to avert famine.
However, the argument that famine in Ethiopia is caused by drought doesn't hold water anymore. Unless the problem is addressed from its roots, another famine is just a matter of time.
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So far close to 7 billions pumped into Galana and we only have few sacks of maize to show..and you say keep pumping money? What foreign expertise is this that kenyans need to grow maize? All along I thought kenya pride herself in marathon and agriculture.
Galana was handed to an Isreali company with expertise on the same. The trial was on 10,000 acres with several varsities of maize. 10,000 acres is small figure considering the gov plans to irrigate 1M acres. I think we should not rush to kill Galana project. Let the expertise deal with this.
While I may agree with you on Ethiopia situation what should we make of uhuruto Galana experiment? An experiment that has sucked billions of shillings mainly on dumb feasibility studies. They should recall ruto biology degree for screwing up Galana together with Koskei.
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So Moonki has sat down and decided FOOD SECURITY is all Ethiopia gok should do? What about education? What about health? What about other gazillions function that Ethiopia gov should do. Ethiopia have done well, growing at double digit, and is facing a drought, a far cry from the famines it use to face.
Ethiopia leadership for last 20yrs have transformed their country more than any country I know of.
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I'll let the expat from Isreal tell us about it. We have to do something as big as Galana (1M acres) if we want to deal with food insecurity.
So far close to 7 billions pumped into Galana and we only have few sacks of maize to show..and you say keep pumping money? What foreign expertise is this that kenyans need to grow maize? All along I thought kenya pride herself in marathon and agriculture.
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Gok should have planted alternative food crops in galana e.g soya, rice etc and left maize to north rift farmers. Imagine how much those billions would have done if pumped into north rift farmer.
Moreover Gok should consider giving out contracts to capable farmers to grow and supply maize on large scale....this will go a long way in discouraging farm subdivision.
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So Moonki has sat down and decided FOOD SECURITY is all Ethiopia gok should do? What about education? What about health?
Feeding oneself is the most basic thing a person should do. If he or she has any sense. The thing things you mention: Health? Only you would need to be told about the very obvious link between nutrition and health. Education? Lack of proper food in childhood leads to a stunting of growth in the development of both brain and body. (Your homework: try to think of what that implies.)
Ethiopia have done well, growing at double digit, ....
This is the kind of thinking that keeps Africans in problems. Economic growth needs to translate into something meaningful for the population! If people cannot even feed themselves, then what is the point of economic growth.
Ethiopia leadership for last 20yrs have transformed their country more than any country I know of.
And yet, there they are. Still begging for the most basic of basics. And it's been like that for decades. A man who spends his money on a nice suit and then goes next door to beg for food should be told he is an idiot and advised to use his head and change his ways; he should not praised for having increased his income.
and is facing a drought, a far cry from the famines it use to face.
If they aren't starving to the extent that they used to, they should really thank the "donors". For example, the USA has been giving them food aid at an average of $250 million per year, for several years now.
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Here is a very interesting view from the Ethiopian News and Opinions:
http://ecadforum.com/2015/09/27/famine-rides-a-light-train-in-ethiopia/
Ethiopia's "tremendous development" is acknowledged in the title---Famine Rides a Light Train in Ethiopia---although the author suggests that:
I will say it out loud: I WOULD RATHER SAVE 6 MILLION ETHIOPIANS FOR ONE-HALF BILLION DOLLARS THAN BUILD A 28 KM RAIL LINE. Straight up!!!
On the endless begging for food:
There is a joke going around about the time Hailemariam was asked if he was worried about the poor rains and looming famine in Ethiopia. “We are not worried about the rains in Ethiopia; we are worried about the rains in America and Canada.”
On the root of the problem:
Wolfgang Fengler, a lead economist for the World Bank, on August 17, 2011, said it straight up: “This [famine] crisis [in Ethiopia] is man made. Droughts have occurred over and again, but you need bad policy making for that to lead to a famine.”
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Shocking ignorance. In the US or any developed country, you'll find people who cannot feed themselves, and so just like ethiopia, there are all sort of citizens who need all sort of gov services. Gov job is to prioritize all the disparate needs and eventually come up with budget that cover stuff from space sciences to the basics. And there is no better measure of development than GDP, and on that count alone, Ethiopia has been a star performer the last two decades.
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It just so happen last year Rotich pumped 11 billion shillings eurobond money into Galana scheme on top of what had been previously spent. So far almost 20 billions has been spent on this project.
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If life was better in Eritrea, why are thousands drowning every year trying to cross Indian Ocean ?
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Shocking ignorance. In the US or any developed country, you'll find people who cannot feed themselves, and so just like ethiopia, there are all sort of citizens who need all sort of gov services.
Ignorance of what? Ethiopia's never-changing status in these matters is one of the very solid facts that most of the world is always aware of.
It doesn't matter where you are, there will always be people who are going hungry, for a whole variety of reasons. But what country, even among the poorer ones, has most of its population continually starving and begging for food, decade after decade?
BTW, the issue is not that hungry Ethiopians ask their government for help. It is that their government, instead of working on food security, persists with international begging. There are some hungry people in other countries; how many of those government help by endless begging from other countries?
Gov job is to prioritize all the disparate needs and eventually come up with budget that cover stuff from space sciences to the basics.
Having skeletals, on empty stomachs, worrying about space does not seem like a very bright idea. They should first focus on the earth beneath their feet and how they can use it to live normally.
And what is more basic than food?
And there is no better measure of development than GDP
This the kind of thinking that keeps Ethiopia permanently hungry, and always with a hand stretched out, even as they build fancy railway systems. Here are some basic lessons for you:
(1) GDP alone is a meaningless figure, unless one also considers (a) the population that has to share that GDP and (b) the actual purchasing power of the money. That is why people look at GNI Per Capita, Purchasing Power Parity. That really ought to be basic, but Pundit is Pundit.
(2) Beyond that, it seems a matter of basic common sense that development should be about people. That is why the UNDP (which, D, knows something about these matters) now has this:
Human Development Index (HDI)
The HDI was created to emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone.
http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-index-hdi
Ethiopia is currently no. 174 out of 188 in the world, so it looks like the humans there are not developing. That is hardly surprising, given that they don't even have food to eat.
on that count alone, Ethiopia has been a star performer the last two decades
And yet they are starving, and the humans there are not developing. I'd rather have a full stomach in a country with a lower GDP than go hungry while the GDP increased; I doubt that the starving Ethiopians feel any differently. In fact, I'd be very angry if the GDP kept going up but I kept starving.
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They had a big one about 30 years ago. USA for Africa released the album We are the World towards the cause.
I tend to think, Ethiopians have admirable levels of discipline, by African standards. There is like 100 million of them, and I suspect 80 million live off the land. When shit hits the fan, the government has no option but to appeal for emergency food aid.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35038878
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MOON Ki,
Sudanese have Gezira irrigation scheme that they invested in way back. I have never heard of famine in those parts, except during the war, which is easy to explain. Would Ethiopians benefit from something like that?
Another problem I think affects more than just Ethiopia is the disconnected nature of African entities. Both internally and externally with neighboring countries. Food can be plenty in one country while the neighbors are starving.
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They had a big one about 30 years ago. USA for Africa released the album We are the World towards the cause.
I tend to think, Ethiopians have admirable levels of discipline, by African standards. There is like 100 million of them, and I suspect 80 million live off the land. When shit hits the fan, the government has no option but to appeal for emergency food aid.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35038878
If you look at the annual figures, Ethiopians are perpetually begging for food. It is not always a "big one" every year or a sudden emergency.
Here's one from 2003:
In 2003, 13 million Ethiopians required exceptional food assistance just to survive. Despite 30 years of food aid, the country?s food security has steadily worsened, and relief food aid has become an institutionalised response.
From 2006:
Like a patient addicted to pain killers, Ethiopia seems hooked on aid.
For most of the past three decades, it has survived on millions tonnes of donated food and millions of dollars in cash. Even in good years, some 5m people need food aid just to survive.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4671690.stm
This one is from 2009:
The Ethiopian government has asked the international community for emergency food aid for 6.2 million people.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8319741.stm
From 2011:
A recent report by Ethiopia and the United Nations said that “2.8 million Ethiopians will need emergency food aid in 2011, and appealed for $227 million to fund programmes for the first six months.”
(Down from 5.2 million in 2010)
http://foreignpolicyblogs.com/2011/02/22/ethiopia-in-need-of-emergency-food-aid/
And regardless of whether it's a big one or not, emergency or not, food keeps flowing in. (Take a look at figures for other years.) Otherwise the "big ones" would be even worse.
The USA alone is continually pumping food into the place. The figures for the last 5 years (MT=Metric Tonnes):
Fiscal Year 2015 $109.9 million 158,500 MT
Fiscal Year 2014 $218.1 million 271,120 MT
Fiscal Year 2013 $235.7 million 274,770 MT
Fiscal Year 2012 $306.6 million 365,400 MT
Fiscal Year 2011 $313.3 million 371,599 MT
(2015 figures have since changed: the figure above is up to June; from beginning of summer, the USA has now put in close to $240 million, with more to come.)
The EU too seems to endlessly pump in food. (Meanwhile, especially in relation to ICC matters, the Ethiopian Prime Minister has been a leader in hurling insults at the "neo-colonial, imperialist" West!.)
Increasingly the question being asked is this: What exactly has Ethiopia been doing to ensure its food security? Is there a sustainable solution somewhere in the works?
Rains will sometimes fail. Droughts will sometimes occur. The issue is how one prepares for them, especially in a place where they happen on a "regular" basis. How is it that quite a few other countries lease huge chunks of Ethiopian land to grow food for their own people while Ethiopians continue to starve? (Some of those countries have even given Ethiopia food aid!)
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MOON Ki,
Sudanese have Gezira irrigation scheme that they invested in way back. I have never heard of famine in those parts, except during the war, which is easy to explain. Would Ethiopians benefit from something like that?
Foreigners are doing it on their (Ethiopians') land, so I don't see why not. Saudis have leased a huge chunk of land to grow rice. That requires quite a bit of water, for which there are local rivers. My guess is that Ethiopians need irrigation, stockpiling, ... , and changes in many attitudes and policies.
On attitudes: One of the things I have in mind the view that "famine is a process, not an event"; it just doesn't happen because rains have failed or whatever. The other part is about paying attention to warnings and acting:
There have been warnings, of one sort or another, about the current "big one" since last year, with numbers of the starving steadily growing from 2 million to today's 10 million; and the latest numbers I have seen forecast around 15-16 million next year, unless there is a huge intervention. The general policy of the Ethiopian government has always been "denial before alacrity". Here is an Ethiopian writing, in the "World Hunger" pages, about the "small one" of 2009:
(November 25, 2009) It is hard to talk about Ethiopia these days in non-apocalyptic terms. Millions of Ethiopians are facing their old enemy again for the third time in nearly forty years. The black horseman of famine is stalking that ancient land. A year ago, Meles Zenawi's regime denied there was any famine. Only 'minor problems' of spot shortages of food which will 'be soon brought under control', it said dismissively.
http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/09/editorials/mariam.htm
Like Pundit, Zenawi too was focused on the "great economic development":
Zenawi's regime has been downplaying and double-talking the famine situation. It is too embarrassed to admit the astronomical number of people facing starvation in a country which, by the regime's own accounts, is bursting at the seams from runaway economic development.
Other interesting comments from the article:
Penny Lawrence, Oxfam's international director, observed after her recent visit to Ethiopia: 'Drought does not need to mean hunger and destitution. If communities have irrigation for crops, grain stores, and wells to harvest rains then they can survive despite what the elements throw at them.' ... Why has the regime not been able to build an adequate system of irrigation for crops, grain storages and wells to harvest rains?
And the current (2015) one?
After denying the problem for weeks; the government finally admitted to it but only to claim that it has enough food stock to tackle the problem. However, journalists on the ground has reported the government's grain reserve has run out long ago. According to Barrie Came, WFP representative, the food supply by the UN is also not enough to curb the problem.
http://www.madote.com/2015/08/the-cause-of-ethiopias-recurrent-famine.html
(The Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister's first choice was a Nyayo approach: those talking about a possible famine are foreigners, with an "agenda", and their local lackeys.)
On policies: Among others, I have pointed out things that some have already noted as downright bizarre:
Africa is up for sale by the acre to the highest bidder. But how can rice exports from Ethiopia to Saudi Arabia be justified?
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In 2009 Saudi Arabia received its first shipment of rice produced on land it had acquired in Ethiopia while at the same time the World Food Programme was feeding 5 million Ethiopians.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/africa-is-up-for-sale-by-the-acre-to-the-highest-bidder/5381630
You write that:
Another problem I think affects more than just Ethiopia is the disconnected nature of African entities. Both internally and externally with neighboring countries. Food can be plenty in one country while the neighbors are starving.
This is an interesting point. I don't know if you have been following the WTO Talkfest in Nairobi. There are still quite a few African countries---Kenya now leading them---still indulging in foolish hopes and arguing for the USA, EU, etc. to reduce their farm subsidies so that Africans can export more to them. That, of course, is never going to happen.
But I have been intrigued with this idea of Africans fighting to export (to rich countries) their food when Africans themselves are badly in need of food. But there's more that that. It appears that:
- In the 1960s Africa was a net exporter of food; by the 2000s, it had become a net importer.
- For every $1 Africa gets from food exports, it spends $2 on food imports.
- The 2015 Global Food Security Index is now out. I think you can guess who makes up the bottom pile.
If I were a policy maker in an African government, I know what all that would tell me. And what is being imported is even more telling: "basic foodstuffs such as dairy products, edible oils and fats, meat and meat products, sugar and especially cereals".
I have also (now and then) paid attention to the Climate Change conference? "Climate change" might be real or a fantasy, but, if real, who's going to be hit the hardest?
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Obviously my knowledge of Ethiopia was a bit sketchy. Apart from the 1984 famine, I had assumed that mass starvation was a thing of the past. Hopefully they get through this one unscathed and learn from it.
If I am not crossing my fingers, it would still be interesting to hear what the AU has to say on the matter.
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From an Ethiopian:
Just as the world’s leading development agencies are vowing to finally make poverty history in the four corners of the globe and they are heaping praises on the Ethiopian Government for its “double-digit” economic growth rates and self-serving rhetoric about “transformation,” Ethiopia is once again under the grips of what appears to be yet another famine of “biblical proportion.” The World Food Program of the United Nations and the Government itself have announced that over 8 million Ethiopians are at the risk of death by starvation.
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We must underscore two things at the outset. First, predictable weather-related or pest-related shocks to the food system should not result in mass starvation or high mortality in the presence of an accountable government with a capacity to feed its people.
http://ecadforum.com/2015/11/15/the-2015-16-ethiopian-famine-yet-another-avoidable-tragedy-is-underway/
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If I am not crossing my fingers, it would still be interesting to hear what the AU has to say on the matter.
The AU? That really is funny! I doubt that it cares about such things, and when it seems to, the results are far from memorable. Here's what happened in 2011:
African governments have pledged $46m for the crisis in the Horn of Africa amid warnings that the emergency stretches far beyond hunger to encompass health, security and livelihood.
The pledges came at a poorly attended summit meeting in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, with only four heads of state making an appearance at the event – postponed from earlier this month. The figure fell short of the $50m expected by NGOs, which did little to conceal their disappointment.
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Three African countries provided nearly half of the pledges – Algeria ($10m), Angola ($5m) and Egypt ($5m). Gambia, Mauritania and Congo-Brazzaville gave more than their proportional share, while Nigeria gave only $2m – less than some of its neighbours with smaller economies. South Africa was also tightfisted, with Oxfam pointing out that only $1.3m of its pledge came from government sources (the rest came from individual donations), about the same as from South Sudan, Africa's newest state.
The AU has come under fire for moving at a snail's pace in coming up with money to help its own. Until today, it had pledged only $500,000.
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2011/aug/25/african-union-summit-funds-somalia
(Red: How many missed the Extraordinary Summit (ICC) for Uhuru?)
After that, the next thing we heard from the AU was an "urgent plea" for "donor countries"---and we know who they are---to speed up their "assistance".
And in 2015?: The AU itself has its own "donor-assistance" issues. A few months ago, the AU 2016 budget was approved. It's for about $420 million, of which:
- 40% is to come from the African countries
- 60% is to come from the "donors"
But note that 2015 is not yet over, and it too had an "interesting" division on the budget. And, as usual, some of the folks responsible for the smaller part of the pie "forgot" to pay. So at the very same time that insults were targeting all sorts of neo-colonialists types, the AU Council authorized one of its committees to spare no efforts in "urgently" getting their "development partners" to come up with some more money so that AU programmes could make it to the end of this year. (After that, they marched to The Hague and declared that Africa is a serious place---independent, sovereign, and equal countries---and is not to be f**ked with.)
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Sounds all easy when you're sitting on some armchair! Kenya will always have food insecure places esp along northern kenya due to FREQUENCY of droughts there. There is not much the gov can do..that donors have not done. The amount of dollars invested say in Northern Kenya to deal with food security is enormous but the people there will remain hopeless...because there is really nothing on the ground...until they discover oil or gold or something underneath.....there is not much gok can do....except feed those folks everytime (which is nearly annual) they get hit by drought.I suspect the same is true for Ethiopia. They have 10M needing food aid...in a country of 80-90M...and those 10M folks are likely living in remote barren places.
Saudis and whole of middle east were equally hopeless until 1950 discovery of oil there.