BY JOSEPH SOBOKA
In Ethiopia and anywhere on the face of the earth, food is the most notable necessity for living. Its role in sustaining life is beyond all measures; without it, existence seizes.
In principle, anywhere and anytime, it should not be in short supply at all. Under no circumstance should it be beyond human reach. Humans should not worry because of the inaccessibility of food. Thus, all feel secured and that nothing can threaten their existence as long as they can afford to access it.
On the other hand, it is not only the availability that ensures food security but affordability is among the major factors to be considered. In Ethiopia, because of unemployment and fast-growing population, a lot of people, particularly the poor, are faced with the threat of food insecurity as they cannot afford three meals a day.
In the face of the soaring price of food items, many are forced to forfeit at least one meal per day, and in case of critical situation the chance of getting one meal per day can be impossible and people resort to the street for beggary. Here again, it is not the unavailability of food but it is the question of affordability.
Apparently, the root cause of such a problem is the hoarding of food items by greedy dealers, whose actions are always driven by the desire to maximize their benefits by creating an artificial food shortage.
The sky-rocketing oil price in Addis Ababa these days is a sheer sign of the current crisis. The availability of food irrespective of class or gender is another issue to ponder about.
In a given territory, all the inhabitants there have the right to access food regardless of who they are as long as there is food. The problem is not the availability but its distribution; the unfair distribution is what we refer to as food shortage. While some have the money power to overeat, the poor do not have much to eat.
As aforementioned, there could be food available in the market, as we daily witness, yet, acquiring it is very difficult for the poor as a loaf of bread used to cost birr 2.35 jumped to Birr 3.00 while the size has shrunk notably without the justification of any kind.
The case of the major bulk of the poor residents of Addis Ababa is a specific example. At any era in the history of a country, it is the bounden duty of the government to make sure that its citizens have sufficient food to eat, which the current government of Ethiopia is relentlessly working on is coming up in identifying the causes of food shortage.
At the 1974 World Food Conference, the time when certain parts of Ethiopia were hit by drought and famine, the term “food security” food security was defined as the “availability at all times of adequate, nourishing, diverse, balanced and moderate world food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset fluctuations in production and prices”.
Currently, in Ethiopia, more than anything else, the fluctuation is mainly with the price than production. In Addis, for example, almost all food item dealers are more intent on amassing a lot of profit through their irregular price charge that disregards the economic power of the majority of consumers. As of late, the situation has proven true the saying “money in bag and food in pocket”.
Yet, the principle of food security dictates that it is not only having access to food that secures the people, but also it should always be sufficiently available according to the preference of the consumers no matter how.
Amid difficult political and economic situations, the Ethiopian government has designed a strategic plan that includes an irrigation project to create preferred future when all Ethiopians, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. When the plan is implemented, and the objectives are achieved, there will not be famine or fear of starvation.
On the other hand, food insecurity equally needs serious consideration. To further elucidate this point, it is wise to understand the definition of food insecurity, defined as a situation of “limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire foods in socially acceptable ways.”
In times of any future crisis like disruption or unavailability of critical food supply, it is rather advisable not sit and wait for what will happen. For Ethiopia, to be self-sufficient, measures should be taken proactively or before the crisis occurs, that enough food should be set aside from the surplus production in case any food security threat in the future.
In such a time when various risk factors including droughts, fuel shortages, economic instability, and wars, incorporating a crucial measure is of paramount importance. That means enough food for everyone in Ethiopia.
In this time of difficult situations akin to social and economic challenges, however, Ethiopia’s great progress should be dependent on the country’s strategy around agricultural development.
Ethiopia needs, in addition to industrial development, to invest in the establishment of agricultural centers to train extension workers across the country and increase road density to connect all administration districts with all-weather roads, and planning to widen irrigation coverage.
Furthermore, focusing on low smallholder farmer productivity through the provision of improved seed varieties and breeds, and training on farming practices need to be implemented.
Among the agricultural and industrial endeavors steps being taken, Afar’s wheat farm project and Bure Oil projects which aim at producing surplus wheat and oil for local consumption and stopping wheat and oil import eventually.
This is an eye-opening opportunity to explore success in ensuring food security which works in innovative ways across sectors to increase yields, enhance market linkages, and implement safeguards for those most at risk.
Furthermore, these investments in productivity to ensure that smallholder farmers have financially paying or remunerative markets for their production.
Traditionally, this was rather impossible since smallholder farmers had limited access to markets due to their often low bargaining power. To overcome this challenge, Ethiopia has focused on supporting the formation of farmers’ associations and cooperatives to operate as commercial businesses.
With the creation of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange, farmers also have access to real-time price information, which lessens the traditional problem of price reduction of their products/produces.
Given the fragile nature of most rural communities emerging from traditional livelihoods, and the recurrence of droughts and more unpredictable weather patterns, Ethiopia has invested in the resiliency of its farming communities.
Therefore, it is from Ethiopia’s ground-level innovations that global leaders are identifying effective systems for scalable solutions, and then implementing them across regions through the engagement of the international community. Various countries are now adopting pieces of this model for implementation in their own nations.
Tanzania is one example and is working on the implementation through its new Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) launched in 2011.
Ethiopia is tackling the challenge of scaling up ground-level solutions by identifying high-potential areas for action-in particular the coordination of market-based approaches, alignment of food security with other prioritized agendas, and best practices of communication.
Looking ahead, we must understand that, for global challenges as complex as food security, there will never be an easy solution. Therefore, the value in stepping back to build a coherent, data-driven, and clear-eyed strategy, based on country-level innovations, could not be more evident.
This approach is by no means easy and building effective public-private partnerships across sectors. But the potential gains are impressive, and if Ethiopia is any indication, such investments will not only be critical to ensuring a globally food secure future, but also in building the effective bureaucratic infrastructure that will be indispensable in tackling a wide range of social policy challenges.
The Ethiopian Herald February 21/2021
