Ethiopian Food Crisis: SCIAF Responds

SCIAF is supplying aid to help those suffering in the growing food crisis in Ethiopia.

With staff in its joint office in Addis Ababa the agency is supplying financial aid as part of an initial £618,000 response from Catholic aid agencies operating in Ethiopia.

Thousands of women, children and young babies are facing a food crisis in the coming months in south and western Ethiopia, SCIAF warned. Failed crops and high food prices have left up to 4.5 million in need of emergency food aid and 75,000 children severely malnourished.

SCIAF is working through the Ethiopian Catholic Church to help sustain and expand therapeutic feeding centres to get emergency food aid to malnourished children under five and lactating mothers. Food, medicines, water, and sanitation facilities are urgent priorities.

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Eye witness from Ethiopia, by SCIAF’s Selina Donnelly.

When imagining a drought affected area, stretches of arid, dusty land is what comes to mind. Yet much of West Arsi zone in Southern Ethiopia is deceptively green. Here people call it ‘green hunger’ – a period of failure of the first harvest, when the second harvest is months away.

Earlier this year drought resulted in almost total harvest failure and widespread death of livestock in this and other regions of the country. Now Ethiopia finds itself in the grip of a complex humanitarian crisis, triggered not only by drought but by global inflation of food and fuel prices. The impacts are being felt throughout the Horn of Africa and amongst the worst affected are the 4.6 million people identified by the Government of Ethiopia who require emergency food assistance. The situation is expected to escalate further as the hunger season progresses.

Moges Abebe, the Emergency Co-ordinator for SCIAF’s local partner Meki Catholic Secretariat explains that this part of Siraro in West Arsi has been a surplus producer in the past but now it is one of the worst affected areas. Moges continues, “Even though the second rains have come and some crops are growing, things are precarious, for the next harvest in October so much depends on the rains. The next few months are critical and in the meantime people are struggling.”

We witness the severity of this ‘green hunger’ upon arrival at a food distribution centre in Siraro Woreda run by Meki diocese. Here the most vulnerable families with children under five are given 5kg of FAMIX (a blend of cereals and pulses) and 0.6 litres of edible oil per child to supplement the general food rations allocated by the government.

Amongst the multitudes who have gathered, Moges introduces us to the articulate Keriya Gobena. Despite not understanding the language native to this part of Ethiopia, even before translation it is easy to feel you know what the women gathered here are saying as their urgent tones are punctuated by the cries of hungry children.

Keriya tells us the story of her neighbour Ramate Kedu. Ramate who is married with two children looks much older than her 35 years. Her youngest, Geneme Kibler aged one and a half, is strapped to her back and is clearly severely malnourished.

“All our income comes from growing crops. Since the last crop has failed we are exposed and we don’t have enough to feed ourselves,” Ramate says.

One of the staple foods throughout Ethiopia is injera, a spongy textured flat bread made from teff grain, but the price of teff has risen rapidly in the last year, and most quickly in recent months.

Ramate continues, “We buy pieces of injera as we can afford it rather than buying teff grain to prepare it ourselves. The grain is too expensive. Last year I could buy two jugs of teff for one birr, now one jug costs ten birr (about 75 cent) and that is not even enough for one person.”

The communities have resorted to other coping mechanisms common during times of drought; eating cactus and whatever enset and wild edible fruits they can find. But despite this resourcefulness many are reaching breaking point.

When asked what needs to change for things to improve Keriya is very clear: “What we need right now is food aid, but we also need to make preparations for cultivation for the next harvest, for this we need seed before the planting season ends. We already used what seed we had in the last season, but it did not grow, the rest we had saved we ate because we are hungry.”

Members of the public can donate online or call SCIAF direct on tel: 0141 354 5555

Media enquiries to Val Morgan on tel: 0141 354 5510 or mobile: 07914 408 589.