Famine Looms in Ethiopia

Catholic Relief Services
Wednesday, 7 May 2003

More than 12 million people are now in immediate need of food aid in Ethiopia, representing an increase of more than 1 million people at risk of starvation since the last assessment in November 2002. After a disastrous year of little or no rain, widespread crop failures have led to critical food shortages. Until recently, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and other relief agencies have managed to avert widespread starvation by distributing food borrowed from the Ethiopian Government's Food Security Reserve. However, areas not previously seen as vulnerable are now in immediate need of assistance, requiring an additional 79,122 metric tons (MT) of food until December 2003 and stretching available resources dangerously thin.

The total amount of food aid required through December is now 944,280 MT, yet pledges to date from donor countries will not meet these needs. Because of this shortage, the Government of Ethiopia's Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission has imposed a reduced grain ration of 12.5 kg per person instead of the internationally accepted 15 kg until the entire grain requirement is pledged by the international community.

"Already we are using reduced grain ration sizes to spread the resources to as many affected areas as possible," said Anne Bousquet, Country Representative for CRS in Ethiopia. "Also, some of the most vulnerable populations have received little or no supplementary food during the last several months due to insufficient pledges and delayed shipments."

The next shipment of supplementary food from the U.S. Agency for International Development is not scheduled to arrive before the end of May. There is also concern among many humanitarian organizations that there will not be enough time to pre-position the food in some remote areas before the areas become unreachable due to rain in June and July. Additional pledges from donor countries totaling approximately 250-300,000 MT are required to cover the shortfall and satisfy the food requirements from May to December 2003.

Nutritional surveys conducted in the affected regions identify acute malnutrition, requiring increased resources for therapeutic and targeted supplementary feeding. In the Wolayita region, the Global Acute Malnutrition rate has nearly doubled from 10.3 percent in December to 20.4 percent in March.

"Pictures from these areas show emaciated children reminiscent of the 1984-85 famine that killed nearly one million people in this country," Bousquet said. "In order to avert another similar disaster, the international community must pledge and transport substantial amounts of food and non-food items to Ethiopia, before it's too late. With increased commitments from donors, Catholic Relief Services and our partners can distribute the appropriate ration sizes to those who need it."

CRS is the lead agency among a consortium of humanitarian aid organizations working through the Joint Emergency Operation Plan to distribute food resources to nearly 4 million of the estimated 12.5 million people now in need across Ethiopia.

CRS is also distributing a locally purchased supplementary food (Unimix) to selected vulnerable communities and providing basic medicine, water rehabilitation and seed distribution to help farmers rehabilitate from the current crisis.

For more information, or to contact Catholic Relief Services, see their website at: www.catholicrelief.org