Article: Despair and hope amid Ethiopia’s severe drought
An edited version of this article is also available in Swedish at Church of Sweden’s webpage
Severe drought has struck East Africa, and 20 million people are in need of immediate emergency relief to survive. The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and other members of the church related humanitarian network ACT International; have started to alleviate the effects among Ethiopia’s most vulnerable groups. But more resources are needed to address the enormous needs. At the same time farmers in southern Ethiopia stress the fact that LWF’s development efforts in recent years have made their communities more drought prepared.
Emergency food distribution in Abaya
In Ethiopia, the drought has increased the number of people in need of assistance with 6.2 million this year. The biggest needs are found in the South and the East, where erratic rains and increased food prices have tighten the pressure on small scale farmers and other groups with small or no margins.
Abaya in southern Ethiopia is one of the areas where LWF Ethiopia program is supporting the communities’ development efforts. During the last three years they have been implementing a long term integrated development project. The recent development has however forced them to put that on hold and start to deliver emergency relief. Many small scale farmers in the area have lost most, or all, of this year’s harvest.
- The situation is terrible, not just for me but for the whole region, shares Senbete Dodo, one of the farmers in the area. He is a disabled widower, and his four children till the family’s small plot. This year they couldn’t harvest even one quintal of maize, and if it was not for LWF’s emergency relief the family would face starvation.
Currently LWF distribute emergency relief in eight places in Abaya district reaching almost 7000 people, mostly malnourished children and pregnant women. But together with other ACT partners in Ethiopia, they are working on an appeal that hopefully will make it possible to reach a total of 220 000 people with emergency relief during the coming months.
Climate change causes new challenges
Many of the areas in need of relief can support its population a normal year. But in Abaya farmers shared that they no longer can trust the rain. It comes too little, or too much at the wrong time. As a result they cannot sow and harvest at the right time, and yields are decreased or destroyed.
Erratic rain patterns and recurrent droughts are some of the expected results of climate change, and in East Africa where people’s survival margins are small; it can lead to disastrous consequences. Hence LWF Ethiopia engages in long term development to support communities’ adaptation to the new conditions. For example through introducing drought resistant crops or by constructing dams where one year’s water surplus can be stored and used during bad times.
New knowledge brings hope and increased food security
Berhanu Boniya is a farmer in Abaya, and he is full of hope. He explains that without the training he got from LWF, he and his family would starve this season.
- Our knowledge about agriculture was limited before, and we didn’t know about improved seeds or irrigation. But nowadays I can harvest much more than before, and in recent years I have even been able to sell the surplus and build a better house. This year is a bad year, but because of my new knowledge I could still harvest enough to support my family.
By: Samuel Larsson/LWF
Feel free to use this article, but credit LWF Ethiopia and/or the author. Photos available.
