Despite its best efforts Ethiopia cannot make dreaded ‘F’ word go away
The Times:
The country that boasts the source of the Blue Nile, tumbling out of the sparkling waters of Lake Tana, is synonymous in the West with drought and famine.
No wonder Ethiopian government ministers cringe whenever the topic comes up. They would prefer to talk about undoubted achievements — impressive economic growth rates, smart new roads and buildings, a streamlined efficient civil service, increased exports, reduced defence expenditure and so on.
However, that “F” word will just not go away. The harsh reality is that 25 years on, the country is no closer to feeding itself than it was when Bob Geldof pricked the conscience of the world and it responded by rushing food aid to five million people starving to death as a result of war and drought.
What the Government and complicit international aid agencies hardly ever mention is that even in the best of years — that is when everything goes right — the country still cannot feed at least 12 million of its people.
Ethiopia’s population grows by more than two million every year. Not once since 1984 has annual economic growth outstripped population increase.
The Government has stubbornly refused all calls to denationalise land and give greater freedom to peasant farmers who at present can buy and sell only to the state. Deforestation has followed, increasing soil erosion and exacerbating the problem. The Government claims to have dropped its Marxist past but still wants a finger in virtually every business and activity in the nation.
The land, when treated right, is fertile. The government-backed horticulture industry has boomed in recent years. Flower farms, with access to new irrigation schemes, have sprung up in once barren fields. But the foreign currency does not seem to go to the most needy.
Ethiopia is not unique. Africa is the only continent to have been bypassed by the green revolution. In Ethiopia’s case, however, Western NGOs have a vested interest in keeping quiet. No other country in Africa shines the light quite so brightly on the folly of unconditional international aid.
Source: Times Online
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Are we still waiting for Jonathan Dimbelby or Michael Burk to report the plight of fellow Ethiopians as in 1974 and 1985 famine, respectively!
Why Ethiopians failed by its successive leaders? It is an irony a country, which is the biggest donation receiver, seemed to proud to let the rest of the world know Ethiopia is in need of food aid, this is hoodwinking the glaring truth!
Ethiopia is a country that is purely a victim of resource management, where the state dare to report hamper harvests and punctuate it with famine. Ethiopians are boarded to death with endless reportage of Ethiopia’s new bread farmers amassed with millions of Ethiopian birr; on the contrary the country is struggling to feed itself and surprisingly enough the famine affected the bread basket regions of the country that hadn’t been affected by famine in the past!!!!