Failed rains impact ability of farmers to plant; millions of people affected
Canadian Foodgrains Bank is monitoring the situation in Ethiopia, where a prolonged spring drought followed by a delay in the summer rains is contributing to a potentially severe hunger emergency.
According to the United Nations, about nine million people, or 10 percent of Ethiopia’s population, is directly dependent on these spring rains for their livelihoods.
Compounding the situation, an El Nino warming trend during the summer planting season also delayed rains, weakening the harvest that in a normal year feeds over 80 percent of the country. The El Nino trend has also sent excessive rains to some parts of the country.
“It’s alarming,” says Foodgrains Bank Executive Director Jim Cornelius. “There is the potential here for a severe hunger situation impacting a lot of people.”
One immediate impact of the hunger emergency is a drop in school attendance, says Cornelius.
In Ethiopia, like in many African countries, parents must pay for books, uniforms, and other schooling costs.
“When families can’t afford to eat, it means they also can’t afford to send their children to school,” he says. “The impacts of the emergency go far beyond not having enough to eat.”
Preventing as many people as possible from being forced into this and other drastic coping measures is the goal of the Ethiopian government’s early warning system that monitors local climate, food security situations, and food markets.
The hope is that hunger emergencies can be caught and responded to early, before becoming full-scale disasters.
The Foodgrains Bank has had a continuous presence in Ethiopia since the 1980s, both responding to food emergencies and supporting the efforts of farmers to grow more food in the longer term, says Cornelius.
“Through our members, we are talking to our long-standing Ethiopian partners to decide what our next steps will be, while continuing to closely monitor what’s happening,” he adds.
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