Plea for more food aid

Seven million Ethiopians could go hungry next year without international aid to make up a chronic food shortfall, the government warned on Wednesday. Simon Mechale, head of the Ethiopian government’s emergency arm, appealed for an estimated US $380 million in food and medical support to help avert a catastrophe. A further two million people are at risk from shortages and require “close monitoring”, he said at the launch of the government’s 2004 humanitarian appeal. His call for support comes as the impoverished nation emerges from one of its worst humanitarian crises where 13 million people have been hit by food shortages. “The magnitude of the disaster last year was enormous,” he told senior United Nations officials, international charities and donors. “But despite a significant increase in food production we still face many challenges this year,” said Simon, who heads the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC). Ethiopia – with a population of 70 million people - is one of the poorest countries in the world where the average annual income is just US $100. Simon said that this year the government needs 841,000 mt of food and a further US $85 million for health, education and water to support subsistence farmers. He blamed the reliance on foreign aid on entrenched poverty which meant farmers simply could not afford to feed themselves. According to the DPPC almost half of the families requiring assistance, have been dependent on aid for almost a decade. A spiralling population has also fuelled dependency. The UN head in Ethiopia, Sam Nyambi, concurred that continued support was vital particularly in areas of health and nutrition. Although requirements are still enormous, the government has launched a massive US $3.2 billion five-year rescue package to end its dependency on foreign aid. The rescue plan aims to ensure that 15 million people – just over one in four of the population - no longer live a hand-to-mouth existence in need of foreign food aid handouts. Simon commended the international community for its support in addressing the crisis that hit the country last year. “We have saved millions of lives,” he noted. The US was the single largest donor, shipping in one million mt of food. The European Union and UK government also supplied tens of thousand of tonnes.