2002 Food Security Emergency in Ethiopia

Facts

-- Poor rainfall has caused significant drought conditions in pastoral, agro-pastoral and agricultural areas. The results of the rain failure are currently being seen throughout the eastern half of Ethiopia.

-- The failure of the rains have now resulted in up to 7 million affected persons, and in a worst case scenario, up to 14.2 million people requiring food aid assistance by mid-2003.

-- Observable cases of severe malnutrition in adults and children can be seen in the most drought-affected areas of West Hararge. In this area, food shortage related diseases such as diarrhea and coughing have been reported, in addition to marasmus and kwashiorkor .

-- In the pastoral areas of Afar and North Somali Region, significant livestock deaths, loss of milk production, low market prices for livestock, incidences of measles, malaria, poor nutritional status of children, as well as lack of access to potable water are all being reported.

Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (GFDRE) Response thus far:

-- On July 11, 2002, the GFDRE announced a contribution and the drawdown of 45,000MT from the Emergency Food Security Reserve.

-- The GFDRE provided US equivalent of $1.6 million for seeds, and dispatched water tankers and emergency sectoral teams to affected pastoral areas of Afar Region and Shinnile Zone of the Somali Region.

-- The GFDRE has reconvened the Inter-Ministerial Emergency Committee, chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister. Similar emergency committees have been mobilized in regional states.

-- The GFDRE, on October 1, 2002, issued an “Appeal for Immediate Food Needs and Scenarios of Likely Emergency Needs in 2003”. The appeal, based on the multi-agency mid-meher crop assessment, outlined needs for the last quarter of 2002 as 273,029 MT (245,114 MT of cereals, 20,937 of blended foods, and 6,978 MT of oil).

-- The Ethiopian Government escalated drought reporting and began donor missions of drought affected areas.

United States Government (USG) Responses thus far:

-- Since January 2002, the USG has provided a total of 270,000 mts of food assistance to Ethiopia, of which, 153,000 mts has been pledged since the July 12, 2002 Appeal. The total value of USG food assistance in 2002 is more than US$ 110 million.

-- Since the July 12, 2002 Appeal, the United States Government has provided US$ 400,000 for the purchase of short-season seeds and distribution to farmers in Tigray, Oromiya, Amhara and Southern Nations and Nationalities Peoples Regional States through the DPPC; US$ 1.3 million to an Irish Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) GOAL for nutritional feeding programs in Afar and West Hararghe; and US$ 1.2 million to UNICEF for the Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses and the purchase and distribution of Emergency Health Kits.

-- The regional Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) Disaster Specialist for Ethiopia, as well as Africa Bureau and Food for Peace have traveled extensively in Ethiopia, assessing affected areas and working with the Mission on response and reporting requirements.

-- The Office of Food for Peace and OFDA are dispatching emergency officers to support the Mission.

-- OFDA issued an annual program statement on September 26, 2002, in support of emergency non-food requirements.

-- USAID/Ethiopia has been working closely with Title II partners to re-program available development assistance funds linked to the development food programs.

Scenarios of likely emergency needs in 2003:

-- The gap between food consumption and production for the October 2002 and September 2003 is estimated to be as follows:

Source: GFDRE Oct. 1 Appeal