Every leader or state would like to lead a dignified country and strive towards making it possible. Nonetheless, this can become a reality only when all the people in a country understand the value of self-sufficiency and attain it. With self-sufficiency, they can attain dignity and completeness.
Literally, self-sufficiency would mean earning enough to provide for the family’s necessities and comforts. But the fact is that self-sufficiency is much more than this. One becomes truly self-sufficient when they are self-sufficient in their relationship and when their happiness is not dependent on the external world.
At the country level, self-sufficiency is a situation in which a country’s domestic production of goods, such as food, equals its domestic effective demand. The proportion of domestic effective demand for goods that is met by domestic production is commonly referred to as the “self-sufficiency ratio.”
This definition of self-sufficiency includes the relationship between self-sufficiency and nutritional need, and the period of coverage. Despite economic and agricultural policies, countries throughout the world continue to push for self-sufficiency in key goods, particularly agricultural commodities.
The book written by John M. Staatz (1991) entitled “Conceptual Issues in Analyzing the Economics of Agricultural and Food Self-Sufficiency” stated that self-sufficiency is producing enough food domestically to assure that the entire population has an adequate diet.
Jean Pierre Enriquez (2020) academic work entitled “Food Self-Sufficiency: Opportunities and Challenges for the Current Food System” indicated that Seventy-seven percent of the countries worldwide are not self-sufficient in terms of domestic calorie production.
The countries with high food self-sufficiency have large areas for agriculture, productive agriculture, and low-density rural populations, which produce food surpluses. On the other hand, there are small and highly urbanized countries, being extremely vulnerable to sociopolitical turmoil as well as the environmental catastrophe resulting from limiting arable land and net food deficits, Enriquez explained.
Taking the value of self-sufficiency for personal and national dignity, Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has launched the “Yelemat Tirufat” development campaign, which focuses on nutritional opulence. The program has been started with the production of milk, eggs, chicken meat, and honey, and will be expanded to other products after the evaluation of their results.
According to Ethiopian Minister of Agriculture Umar Hussain, the main objectives of the program are increasing chicken meat from 90 thousand tons to 296 thousand tons, milk production from 6.9 billion liters to 11.7 billion liters, egg production from 3.2 billion to 9.1 billion, and honey production from 147 thousand tons to 296 thousand tons.
To implement the program, lessons and best practices have been taken from the Green Legacy Initiative and avocado development across the country. Applying for the program ensures national food self-sufficiency which plays a vital role in addressing nutrition needs by significantly improving milk, eggs, poultry, and honey production across the nation, the Premier explained.
The “Yelemat Tirufat” development program accelerates efforts to achieve food self-sufficiency at the family and national levels. It is not only about getting adequate nutritional food but also food self-sufficiency which is directly linked to national sovereignty and dignity, according to the Premier.
As stated by Minister Umar, the Yelemat Tirufat program will be implemented in the coming four years and high-yield outcomes will be expected. It has a goal of increasing dairy production, ensuring food security, creating job opportunities, increasing export, and replacing imported animal products with domestic ones.
Achieving this program indirectly benefits us to ensure independence and dignity. Hence, to achieve the program, the ministry of agriculture by collaborating with partners and stakeholders will provide improved species. The ministry will also introduce modern crops, livestock, and fisheries production styles that change backward farming systems.
Addis Ababa City Administration Mayor Adanech Abebe said “Our forefathers handed over to us a sovereign and dignified country by scarifying their precious life. To preserve and protect its sovereignty, the current generation should build a strong economy that quickly eradicates poverty. Because the country will not be honored or changed by begging. Therefore, it is key to strive to attain self-sufficiency through the Yelemat Tirufat program”
Addis Ababa City Administration Prosperity Party Head of the Office Mr. Melese Alemu noted that the Yelemat Tirufat has been given special attention since it has a strong connection with our freedom and sovereignty. Currently, Ethiopia is asserting its economic independence through its dedicated leaders and people. The biggest demonstration of this is the country’s readiness to export wheat.
“The country that we preserve through blood, will also sustain via development by our sweet. The honor of our country can only be sustained through work and effort. Therefore, every citizen should work on the Yelemat Turufat to fulfill our food self-sufficiency at the family and national levels. Ethiopia will prosper with the efforts of its strong children,” Mayor Adanech stated.
Self-sufficiency in food at the family level is a basis for our efforts to be food self-sufficient at the national level. “I visited with an elderly woman producing outputs related to the Yelemat Turufat including poultry, livestock, honey, and backyard farming in her own small space, who is not only fulfilling household consumption needs but also availing surplus to the community.” Accordingly, the promotion and implementation of the program must be strengthened across the country, the Premier noted.
Minister of Planning and Development Dr. Fitsum Assefa said that in the last two years, the government has prepared Ethiopia’s Food System Transformation Roadmap under the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture and Health. Accordingly, the green legacy initiative, summer wheat production, and the Yelemat Turufat programs are leading to this success.
Indeed, ensuring food security and self-sufficiency have a direct link with the sovereignty and dignity of a certain country. Especially, the Yelemat Turufat which was announced recently under the leadership of Prime Minister, Dr. Abiy Ahmed is a demonstration to ensure food security, and realize a balanced nutrition system and dignity.
Because self-sufficiency brings completeness by avoiding inequality among states. This in turn makes interstate relations healthy. Besides, self-sufficiency helps to avoid any influence that comes via foreign aid and donation and promotes national development and cooperation. Because the honor of the country could be achieved not by begging but through cooperation and hard work too.
The Ethiopian Herald December 6/2022
