Many still need food aid despite bumper harvest

A bumper harvest is anticipated in Ethiopia in 2005, but many Ethiopians will still need humanitarian aid, UN officials said this week. Ethiopia's food production rose this year by 24 percent from 14.27 million mt in 2004, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) said in a joint report released on Wednesday. The increase was due mainly to better rains, increased use of fertilizer and improved seeds, especially wheat and maize, the UN agencies said. However, more than two million Ethiopians will need emergency assistance in 2005, Paul Herbert, head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Ethiopia, told IRIN on Thursday. "There are large numbers of people who did not benefit from a bumper harvest and we need to ensure their needs are met either through the safety nets system or emergency programmes," Hebert said. Five million people suffering from chronic hunger will also require cash and food transfers under the government-led safety net programme – a scheme whereby people work for their food or are paid in cash, he added. Georgia Shaver, WFP Country Director for Ethiopia, said that “for the first time in the history of food aid assistance in Ethiopia, there is a different response to the needs of acutely undernourished people as opposed to the chronically hungry." She said people hit by "unpredictable disasters" would be targeted differently from those who face chronic hunger and that the safety nets programme would "help families to create and maintain assets and decrease households' vulnerability". Agriculture is the mainstay of the Ethiopian economy, contributing to 45 percent of the estimated US $8.2 billion GDP. It also employs 80 percent of the population. "The near total dependence of the agriculture sector on rainfall makes it susceptible to the vagaries of nature and results in high variability of yearly agricultural production," the joint report said. "This in turn increases the uncertainty and insecurity of food production." The report estimated emergency food requirements for 2005 at 387,500 mt, as against 965,000 mt in 2004, when seven million people needed to be assisted. Another 89,000 mt of fortified blended food and vegetable oil is required for supplementary food distributions for children under five and mothers. The report stressed that with a bumper harvest coming onto the market, the "timely marketing and transport of food products will be critical issues" in 2005. "Local purchase of cereals for food assistance programmes is recommended as far as possible, so as to assist domestic markets and farmers," said Henri Josserand, chief of FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System. The report raised concern about pastoral areas in eastern and southern Ethiopia where prolonged drought had led to acute water and fodder shortages.