Written by Melaku Sahlu - Horizon Ethiopia Staff Writer
Wednesday, 01 October 2008
Even as we speak of Ethiopia’s growing export industry and other areas of positive economic development in the country, we would be remiss were we not to underscore that through all of this good news, Ethiopia is still a country that faces chronic food shortages which from time to time blossom into a full blown crisis calling for an emergency response from the international community. Yes, such crises are usually triggered by increasingly volatile weather patterns but there are certainly factors that exacerbate them further or that can be done to alleviate them greatly. In fact, for some people there is an argument to be made that says our country should be focused on solving its food security issues instead of being distracted by exports or other similar endeavors such as the high levels of infrastructure development currently ongoing throughout the country.
It won’t be the last time this issue is raised. If we know anything for certain, it is that Ethiopia can expect more encounters with drought every now and then, for the foreseeable future. Despite efforts to establish in country food reserves, it is not at all certain that the food security crises that frequently arise as a result of drought, can be completely avoided in the near term. The current one is proof positive of that. The central question becomes therefore, how we can increase the overall capacity of the country to deal with drought and the effects thereof in a comprehensive way. Yes, a significant part of that equation is having sufficient food reserves on hand when the situation calls for it. But it also must include the ability to effectively and expeditiously distribute such reserves. Which of course calls for an improved transportation network. The foreign exchange reserves to support the purchase of the oil and other materials (such as medical supplies) that will be needed when dealing with such a crisis. Clearly dependent on what Ethiopia can generate from its exports as one component of reducing the massive trade imbalance that is heavily skewed in favor of foreign imports. The other component? Reducing imports by producing more of the goods the country demands, domestically.
And these are mostly measures related to how such events are handled from a central authority perspective. What about the other side of the coin where we might look to how families and communities across Ethiopia are better able to fend for themselves in the face of drought? In a nation where over 80% of the population is engaged in agriculture, subsistence farming dominates. In the face of chronic drought, this is a recipe for certain disaster. As a fundamental component of the needed change, there is no greater imperative than to change this circumstance. While there may be several elements involved in doing so, fundamentally speaking what we need to be working towards is for farmers (the vast majority of which are smallholders) to regularly produce more than they need to subsist on. That automatically leads to the question of what they would do with their surpluses. The most immediate answer to that may be to store some for a rainy (or ‘dry’) day so to speak and sell the rest to generate the kind of income that can help them strengthen the thin fabric of their family and community support systems. But selling requires markets that need their products and just as importantly the ability of the seller to access such markets. Which brings us back full circle to the need for infrastructure development, improved domestic markets for goods and commodities (precisely the kind of improvement the new Ethiopian Commodity Exchange is aspiring to implement) as well as a strengthening export sector.
Interconnected Problems.
In fact, these are only a few of the elements that would need to be encased in a serious discussion of this topic. Control of our rampant population growth which is adding to our numbers at the rate of over 2 million a year should certainly be near the top of that list. It may be true that Ethiopia can fulfill its age old promise to be the breadbasket of Africa someday but to try and climb our way to that pinnacle while fighting to address a whole range of serious issues for a population growing at such a rate, is to shoot ourselves in both feet at the start of a thousand mile journey.
There are few images that can stay seared in one’s mind the way that of a starving baby can. The instinctive reaction that all must be set aside in a single minded drive to address the immediately visible aspects of such a crisis, is only human. But following this instinct could be what propels history to repeat itself time and again in our country. Our food security needs do not exist in a vacuum but in an interconnected economic system in which the singular address of one would at best create imbalances that would soon revert to an equilibrium defined by the weakest link in the chain. And in fact I would question our capability to effectively address any particular area of weakness without substantively and simultaneously improving others.
Dangerous Imbalance Between Emergency and Development Aid.
In recent months, Western media has made much of the ongoing difficulties in Ethiopia and contrasted that against the high amount of foreign aid the country receives. But is it all the right kind of aid? A few years ago when Ethiopia faced the last major food security crisis that required an international response, I recall reading an article that described the proportion of emergency to development aid that Ethiopia receives, in this way; “Ethiopia is the largest recipient of emergency aid per capita in the world. But at the same time, it receives the least per capita in development aid.” (Christian Science Monitor, circa 2003). These statistics may have undergone a shift since then but I believe that we can find in them a significant clue as to why Ethiopia seems to go through periodic crises of this kind with tragic regularity.
So in the argument as to which areas of development we should choose to focus on – food security or exports or infrastructure development or controlling population growth or… – I say we don’t really have a choice. We must focus on one. And, we must focus on all. We cannot try to address our food security needs by focusing on agricultural yield improvements to the detriment of all other development areas. That would be akin to shoveling water out of a sinking ship without also addressing the source of the leak. The water must be thrown out but more must also be prevented from coming in. In much the same way, our efforts to improve Ethiopia’s capacity to feed herself must unavoidably address the underlying causes as well as the tragic symptoms of our inability to do so at the present time. The precise balance of how we distribute such efforts between these imperatives may be open to legitimate debate but in my opinion the fundamental point of all encompassing efforts on multiple fronts, is not.
