The trigger of Ethiopian famine and its impacts from 1950 to 1991

Abstract

Ethiopia is an ancient state that emerged in the Horn of Africa. The country has an abundance of natural resources, a rich history, cultures, languages, and diverse physical landscapes. Ethiopia’s socioeconomic and political characteristics were stable until the first half of the twentieth century. However, famine struck the country several times after the 1950s. This period is historically significant as the start of the monarchical regime’s mechanized farming scheme program, which was intended to increase food crop production for local consumption and cash crops for export. Following the land reform proclamation in 1975, the Derg also pursued the same goal, establishing large state farms throughout the country.Despite having numerous mechanized state farms, famine had repeatedly struck the nation. In order to identify the causes and effects of the famine in Ethiopia from 1950 to 1991, this paper has made an attempt. As a result, to maintain the validity and reliability of sources, a variety of relevant secondary reviews of the literature were consulted. The paper thus pinpoints a number of human and natural factors that led to the famine. Various social crises, population shifts, and economic crises occurred during the famine and post-famine periods.According to the paper, the causes of famine were strongly linked to the government’s policy failure to manage disaster risk management and its citizens’ social well-being. Consequently, Ethiopia’s post-1991 government demonstrated exemplary preparedness in dealing with the causes and effect of famine through disaster risk management policy revision and agricultural and economic development schemes.

Keywords:

• Ethiopian famine
• Horn of Africa
• impact of famine
• trigger of famine

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

Ethiopia has a high agricultural potential due to its fertile land, diverse climates, adequate rainfall, and large labor force. Despite its agricultural potential, Ethiopia remains underdeveloped, and repeated famine crises have plagued the country since the 1950s. As a result, for nearly half a century, the country was associated with hunger and famine. However, the country has a high potential for surplus agricultural production and appears to have met its goal of becoming self-sufficient in agricultural production. As a result, this article investigates the causes of the famine in Ethiopia during the monarchy and military rule, as well as its effects on social, economic, and political aspects. The paper provides a comprehensive overview of the Ethiopian famine. It also describes how human and natural phenomena affected the country’s economic well-being and people’s livelihoods after the famine ended.

1. Overview of agriculture and famine in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is endowed with accumulated natural resources, and agricultural potential, which could be the basis for economic development and food security. In the middle of the twentieth century, agriculture provided 40% of the gross national product and 90% of the export income, as well as 85% of employment opportunities. Nonetheless, agriculture is in a very poor stage due to very backward and traditional subsistence farming methods, low investment, poor land utilization, and environmental disorders with their associated factors (Kinfe, 1994). Although two to three million hectares of potentially irrigable land are believed to exist in the country, this fertile land has not been cultivated and developed into productivity (Shiferaw, 1995).

The agriculture system is also not assisted by the modern way of utilizing inputs to maximize outputs and production. The peasants were not consolidated by technical packages and extension services for the long year by the local government; despite overwhelming evidence of environmental degradation and disorder accompanied by famine, even external donors were not sufficiently motivated to support agriculture. Instead, they have tended to focus on providing food aid, except for the Swedish government, which has provided integrated rural development packages since the 1960s. The result was that Ethiopia repeatedly suffered from hunger and famine because its green and fertile lands were unable to be converted into food (Kinfe, 1994).

In different parts of the country, the famine caused hundreds of deaths due to a lack of food, as well as weakened physical, psychological, and natural strengths. The onset of famine generally occurs after long periods of hunger and malnutrition. In the society, these conditions raised the death rate, migration, and social dislocation. The causes of famine include poverty, land degradation, household economic problems, climate disorders, political instability, and a failure of social and demographic policies (Tesfaye et al., 1998). Kinfe explained this condition as follows:

Famine is a condition of an absolute lack of food. When we talk of famine, we are not talking of a relative deficiency of food, qualitatively or quantitatively, but the absolute unavailability of food, or, in certain cases, of anything remotely resembling food. It may also be said that, as a general rule, malnutrition and undernourishment may be found in rural as well as urban areas, whereas famine is often the misfortune of rural populations in poor countries…(Kinfe, 1994, p. 190)

There is evidence of famine in the ninth century that is explained by chroniclers, hagiographers, clergymen, and churches, and that continued into the 15th century. It is also documented that famine also occurred during the Gonderine period in the sixteenth century and the nineteenth century. Apparently, famine is a result of both natural and socio-economic factors; however, it can also be caused by drought, locusts, and caterpillars. But traditionally, society considered famine as the punishment and anger of God. Similarly, there was a belief that since famine was caused by the work or sin of humans, God and the saints could pardon it. People also believed that famine was caused by the deaths of rulers. For example, the “great famines” Kifu ken that occurred before the end of the twentieth century was linked to Yohannis IV’s death in 1889. Similarly, the 1560s famine followed the death of King Galawdios in 1559 (Pankhurst, 1985).

The most documented event in the history of famine in Ethiopia was the “great famine” kifu qen that lasted from 1888 to 1892. The famine was devastating and affected the social, economic, and political patterns of the period. The causes of the famine were the rise of a cattle epidemic called render pest, the failure of the harvest, and the outbreak of locusts and caterpillars. Consequently, it demoralized a large section of the population. Following the severe famine, some unfamiliar practices were observed. For instance, eating socially and religiously prohibited foods, exchanging family members in need of food, feeding unaccustomed herbs, murder, and suicide (Pankhurst, 1968).

In the 20th century, famine was cyclically caused by the degradation of the environment, inadequate grain storage, an inappropriate system of land tenure, unfair taxation, civil wars, and an excessive number of holidays that caused extravagance and limited working time. In the years 1916–1920, there was a widespread famine in Ethiopia. In 1927–1928, drought broke out, followed by famine in Tigray, Wollo, and the remaining northern part of Ethiopia. In the 1930s and 1940, another major famine took place in most parts of Ethiopia. But the most catastrophic famine, which caused the deaths of many peasants in the Tigray region, was detected in 1957–1958. The Wollo area also experienced similar damage from the famine between 1964 and 1965. Especially in the province of Lasta, 40000 people died out of the 3 million total residents of Wollo region (Clarke, 1995).

Famine in Ethiopia was very well known and repeatedly occurred in the northern part of the country. But, since the second half of the 1950s, famine become a catastrophe that occurs within a decade in a cyclical situation even in the rest of Ethiopia parts. Tigray and Wollo were the most common regions exhausted by the famine. It began to appear in these areas just at the beginning of the 1950s. This had facilitated the politicization of the event. The government had set a mobilization and was displacing the society into the southern parts of the country. The government’s failure to assist the society at their spot of land and continuous pressure to mobilize them from their locality had resulted in wide opposition. Peasants responded to it in a militant way against the ruling class in the 1970s (Gebru, 1996).

In the northern regions, Wallo was frequently hit by famine. For instance, in 1957–1958, 1964–1967, and 1972–1974, people faced the worst of life one after another. These famines were accompanied by pandemic diseases like malaria, typhus, and cattle diseases (Desalegn, 2009). The tragedy of the 1972–1974 famine, which had slowly developed from the 1964–1967 famine, had cost the lives of many people (Clarke, 1995).

In the second half of the 1950s, two major famines in 1972–1974 and 1984–1985 created a bad image on the prospect of the country in the international arena and, of course, sparked national and international mobilization for humanitarian assistance (Shiferaw, 1995). In 1972, famine developed and expanded in the northern provinces of Ethiopia. It was deliberately publicly hidden by the government. Even the government had diplomatically forced the international organizations of relief agencies, both at the national and international levels, to be silent about the great truth in north Ethiopia. However, in late 1973, when conditions were out of control in Wollo, Emperor Haile Selassie visited the province and proclaimed the situation. Then the government made the issue public after already the student movement activists brought the issue to the media. But about 200,000 people lost their lives without any assistance from the government (Eide, 2000). A large amount of grain had been stored by the government during the 1972 famine, and most of it was exported in 1973. The government was also accessible to gain additional supply, which could secure food shortages from other countries and international agencies (Nega & Markakis, 1986).

The 1972 famine that was started in Wollo and Tigray expanded to some parts of the north, south, and central parts of the country, like, Showa, Hararghe, Bale, Kaffa, Kambata, and others (Eide, 2000; Shiferaw, 1995). The passive reaction of the government towards the famine isolated the aristocratic regime from the international community and arose grievances among the educated and the local people, which later caused the downfall of the regime (EU, 2016; Young, 1997).

In 1984–1985, other severe famines were breaking out in Ethiopia, which cost the lives of a hundred thousand people all over the country. It was an ever-worsening famine in Ethiopia, next to the Wollo famine. The main center of the problem was the northern region of Tigray and Wollo later the central part of Showa and some parts of the south, south-east, and south-west were also affected by the shortage of food, which later developed into famine. The famine was caused by different interrelated natural and man-made factors. It had created social, economic, and psychological disintegration in the area. But, with surprising and impressive mobilization of the international community, especially, the professional artists, under the slogan “We are the world”. Ethiopia and other sub-Saharan states that were influenced by the Sahel region famine had also recovered through international humanitarian assistance. As different studies have shown, Ethiopia after 1991 has revealed a very good improvement in poverty reduction, which could be the main cause for combating the trigger of famine in Ethiopia. The government also set up a strong policy of disaster risk management scheme (Jemes et al., 2002).

2. What triggered famine in Ethiopia at the birth of mechanized farming?

The mechanization of agriculture in Ethiopia was initiated by the government and some private enterprises in the early 1950s. It aimed to promote modern means of production and increase food crops and cash crop production. After the fall of the feudal regime, the military regime (Derg) created mechanized farms called “state farms” by confiscating privately owned farms across the country under the 1975 land proclamation and recognizing the importance of large-scale mechanization for sustainable productivity in the agricultural sector. However, Ethiopia has faced catastrophic famines despite the existence of such large, state-owned agricultural farms. In fact, many different uncontrolled and controlled factors have caused these famines, those covered below account for the majority of the spread of famine between 1950 and 1991.

2.1. Land tenure and inconsistent government policy

The land tenure system that prevailed under the feudal government in the twentieth century contributed to the persistence of famine in the country. The land tenure system had expanded from the north-eastern part of Ethiopia to the new areas in the south of the country. There was a wide growth of tenancy, endlessness, and land rent among the peasants (Clarke, 1995). The tenancy was unevenly distributed throughout the country, showing variation both in the form of rent payment and landlord client relation almost over half of the Southern peasants, which reduced peasants to tenants (Bahru, 2001; Gebru, 1996).

Under the share cultivation system, tenants paid rent based on the proportion of the crop produced. In principle, the number of products divided was mainly between one-third and half of the total production, but in practice, there was no legal limit to the appropriation. In this case, the self-sufficient peasants were exploited and reduced to miserable tenants (Gebru, 1996). Therefore, peasants were never able to accumulate capital or invest in improved technology. The landowners spent part of their surpluses on consumption and part on investment in the town, while the tenants utilized the acquired products only for substance family feeding, which was later gradually starved and damaged by the rise of famine (Jemes et al., 2002).

The tenancy system affected any far-reaching rural developments. It had hampered and demoralized the morale of tenants and farmers to improve their agriculture system and production. Consequently, tenants and peasants were always restless and unhappy. The pain of tenants was sensed by the students through demand and the quest for “Land to Tiller”. They also manifested the land tenure system as the basic cause of the 1972–1974 famine in Ethiopia (Legesse, 1979).

Government policies in Ethiopia from the early 1950s to the late 1980s paved the way for persistent famines. Shiferaw has explained that the policies that prevailed before 1991 lacked important components like food security, distribution, marketing systems, preparedness, and the prevention of famine and drought (Shiferaw, 1995).

The Imperial government had set up two five-year plans for 1957–1962 and 1962–1967. The government gave attention to cash crop production like coffee cultivation (Dagm, 2022). Thus, cereal crop production increases only by 10%, whereas coffee production increases by 20%. Therefore, cereal production lagged behind the growth of urban and rural populations. Consequently, for the first time, Ethiopia imported about 45,000 tons of food between 1959 and 1960. The diplomatic community and donor countries had advised the Imperial regime to emphasize cereal production and agriculture in general, but the government was inconsistent in doing so. Consequently, the government faced a series of food shortages and persistent famine in different parts of the country, which cost the lives of many people and accounted for the downfall of the Haile Selassie regime in 1974 (Kinfe, 1994).

The 1975 land reform, abolished the feudal system of land tenure, which had long acted as a constraint to social and economic development. The reform reorganized the landholding system, which paved the way for excessive fragmentation of land and facilitated the utilization of fertile and productive land in different parts of the country (Pankhurst, 1985). Following the land reform, peasants were organized under associations. The original objective of the association was to promote the well-being of the peasants and to promote productivity, but, in the end, the association turned out to be a structure of state control. From mid-1977 to 1978, most of the peasant leaders were replaced by new ones who were determined to serve the objective and aim of Derg. The peasants’ leader slowly became rigid and was like the feudal landowners. Therefore, peasants began to face oppression by dictators and bureaucrats. This had exhausted the ability of peasants to produce surplus production. The deteriorating economy and lack of food led to the formation of agricultural marketing cooperation in 1977. However, peasants were forced to sell their crops at a fixed price to this cooperative, which resulted in no livelihood change at all (Jemes et al., 2002). Due to government interference in the pricing and distribution of agriculture yields by small farmers and the weakness of encouragement among farmers, this contributed to the deficiency of production in the country (Kinfe, 1994).

In 1984, the government outlined a 10-year prospect plan to increase agricultural expenditures up to 30%, but state farms received the highest share until 1990. Although the government gave excessive power to the peasant association and to the establishment of huge state farms with low productivity, this demonstrated the effectiveness of Derg’s agricultural policy and land reforms. For example, between 1980–1985, the government used 76% of fertilizer, 90% of seeds, and 80% of agricultural credit allocation but produced only 4 to 5% of the total output. The policy, installed between 1975 and 1990, did not attain its objective of raising household and large-scale state farm production. Therefore, the huge agricultural policy of Derg resulted in extreme failure and was disabled to counter the 1980s famine in the country (Tesfaye et al., 1998).

2.2. The outbreak of drought

Drought is a long-term absence of rainfall. It greatly contributed to the outbreak of famine and environmental disorder. Most African countries were affected by drought from the 1980s until 1990 (De Waal, 1991, p. 4). Drought-hit Ethiopian regions at different times. The northern province of Wollo was frequently attacked in 1836, 1886–89, 1899–1900, 1921–1922, and 1932–1934. Eventually, drought triggered famine in different years, like 1953, 1958, 1964–66, and 1973–74 (Kinfe, 1994). The famine that was triggered by drought has been found in two geographical zones, the central and the northern highlands. It extends from northern Showa to Eritrea, and the other is from Wollo in the north to Gamo Gofa in the south. According to metrological data, Ethiopia experienced below-average rainfall in 22% of the country from 1958 to 1984 (Tesfaye et al., 1998).

Drought and famine appear to have been a common phenomenon in the lives of Ethiopian peasants for a long period, for instance, from 1900 to 1974, at least 10 major occurrences were admitted, mostly in the northern part of Ethiopia. Drought could be caused by environmental degradation and natural aspects (Rubenson, 1991). But, Shiferaw has summed up the other way of looking at drought advent and prediction as follows:

“A major drought in a certain part of the world is said to have coincided with sunspots flares which according to scientists, occur every eleven years. Given this hypothesis and based on records, it would be possible to make a near accurate prediction of drought in Ethiopia”. (Shiferaw, 1995)

The famine that was caused by the drought resulted in dislocation, starvation, and death. But also caused damage to plants. During the more extended drought, most of the green plants failed to grow. Consequently, crops were unable to provide income, even drought-resistant ones. For example, although Hararghe (eastern Ethiopia) chat (Catha edulis) is relatively drought-resistant, its price fell during 1984–1985 because of the total collapse of its price. In the south and south-west, in addition to the drought, the coffee berry disease made the coffee trees not produce any beans, and the leaves dried up. Enset, a drought-resistant crop, has also been affected by the disease. In most parts of southern Ethiopia, people relied on Enset as a source of income and food (De Waal, 1991).

2.3. High population growth

The most famous Demographic scientist, called Malthus, suggested that population growth is unilaterally dependent on its potential to produce food, or that population growth should be in an arithmetic way whereas food production and supply must be geometric. If the inverse has appeared, famine is inevitable (Tesfaye et al., 1998). Accordingly, agricultural productivity in northern Ethiopia has been declining steadily and dramatically because of high population pressure on land. Accelerated population growth throughout the country led to the cultivation of marginal lands and highly exhausted lands, which resulted in diverse environmental degradation (Finn, 1990). For instance, in 1950, the population concentration in some areas had started to increase highly; for instance, the former provinces of Begemidir, Eritrea, Gojjam, Tigray, and Wollo together made up 33.7% of the total area but comprised 37.4% of the total countryside population. The harvest of food crops, for instance, Teff had declined unceasingly from 9.5 quintals per hectare in 1979–1980 to 7.5 quintals per hectare in 1985–1986. The other food crops exhibited the same decreasing form (Kinfe, 1994). But the population growth rate demonstrates (see Figure 1) fast population growth, which is disproportionate to food production. This signifies how the famine incident hit the venerable regions at an extreme level (Gebru, 1996; A.J.; Carlson & Carlson, 2008).

Figure 1. The population growth rate of Ethiopia(1950 –1990).

Source: Adopted from CSA (1994) and CSA (2007)

Ethiopia’s population has more than tripled in just over four decades, from 30 million in 1974 to close to 120 million today, in terms of exponential demographic growth. Famine and famine-related deaths decreased dramatically after 1991. (See Figure 2). Similarly, food production increased in relative terms, but it was unable to meet the ever-increasing demands of an expanding population. There is a clear need for public policies that will accelerate the country’s current drop in fertility rates (Cochrane, 2017).

Figure 2. Population growth and death due to famine in Ethiopia.

Source: Logan Cochrane (2017, p. 2)

2.4. Environmental degradation

The northern region’s lands have been extensively and intensively used by succeeding generations for many centuries. Consequently, the land lost its vegetation cover and was full of erected stones and bold mountains. Agriculture is reliant on rainfall, and the soil has become very fatigued. Thus, people are tremendously susceptible to catastrophic famine. That is why the northern regions, especially Tigray and Wollo were attacked frequently by drought and famine (Gebru, 1996).

Land degradation is mainly caused by the enormous burden exerted on the system by human activities like organization, overpopulation, and deforestation. According to the FAO report, deforestation, land degradation, and soil degradation have reached a disastrous level in Ethiopia. The forest cover is now about 3.6% of the total area of the country; less than a century ago, about 40% of the country was under forest coverage. About 200,000 hectares of forest land are lost annually for different purposes. This had quicker soil erosion, degradation of fertility, and an absence of rainfall. Finally, a very serious drought and famine took place (FAO, 2019).

2.5. Frequent civil war

Military confrontation and social action competition for resources in the 1980s and 1990s were very common in Africa. The military spending was greater than the total health and educational expenses during the period. The Ethiopian civil war of 1975–1991 hardly influenced the people; the government spent 700 million US dollars per year, or 50–70% of the total income of the country, on war. Derg had also levied a tax on the smallholders to support the war in addition to the agriculture income tax, the peasant association membership fee, and other social expenditures (Tesfaye et al., 1998).

Civil wars and conflicts had absorbed more than 60% of the state budget and about 15% of the growth in the national product. Hundreds of thousands were involved in an armed fight or logistical backing, which could be used for development and investment. In 1984–1985, famine broke out in Tigray, which was caused by the frequent war and a deliberate lack of support by the rebel group, the Tigray People Liberation Front, and the Derg government. Consequently, three million people have faced a shortage of food or have starved. Until the arrival of aid, a lot of old, weak, and helpless children died (De Waal, 1991; Kinfe, 1994).

3. The excruciating impact of famine in Ethiopia (1950–1991)

The outbreak of persistent famine had short-term and long-term consequences on the social, economic, political, and psychological aspects of society and the community in general. Therefore, the most common and long-term consequence of famines in Ethiopia is discussed in the following. During the persistent famine, many people migrated from their home area into the other regions of the county, and some others also traversed the border of Sudan and Kenya and Joined refugee camps. Migration provided an outlet for the social pressure that might arise from the chaos in the economic system. It confined rural misery within the slight limits of households. About a hundred-thousand peasants from Tigray and Wollo only annually migrated to work on plantations, often for several months at a time. Generally, the north had been turned into a type of labor exporting within the changing national economy before 1991 (Abebe, 1994; Gebru, 1996; Giorgis, 1989).

3.1. Households insecurity

Famine greatly affects households by deteriorating the quantity and value of assets, and the social safety nets of families and communities. During the famine, different people sold their household assets in exchange for food. For instance, in the highland areas, most people sold household goods like tables, pots, and blankets. In some lowland areas, many people sold their clothing and essential cooking utensils. The sale of livestock was also common. This exaggerated the problem in the peasant’s life because the number of livestock was reduced. As a result, generating income from animal products disappeared, and transportation of the pack animals became difficult. Most of the peasants also sought loans, even during this harsh time. Eventually, this exhausted the household’s economic well-being for a long time (Tesfaye et al., 1998).

3.2. Resettlement and villagization program

The resettlement program was the long-distance movement of people from the overpopulated and famine-affected areas into planned, comfortable agricultural areas and villages elsewhere. The relocation program was started in the late 1970s but became a foremost event in the 1980s, especially after the devastating famine that happened in 1984–85. The measure was largely from the northern famine zones of Tigray, Wollo, and north Showa and from the southern parts of Kambata and Wolayta to the west, south, and south-west. About six hundred and above people were resettled peacefully and forcefully (Desalegn, 2007). But about thirty-three thousand settlers lost their lives due to disease, hunger, and exhaustion, and thousands of families were broken up and dislocated. The government expended around a half-billion Ethiopian birr for an emergency. The program resulted in significant environmental damage because a large area was cleared of its vegetation to build homesteads, acquire farmland, and construct access roads. Nonetheless, after receiving relief, famine victims returned to their home areas when the situation improved. This revealed the failure of the resettlement program, as it was planned by the government for prominent changes. In fact, some peasants remained in the new settlement and gradually showed progress in their economic and social well-being (Pankhurst, 1992).

The village-building program involved the coming together of scattered peasant homesteads into designated villages, where they continued to farm the same land as before. The governments started the villagization package during the Ethiopia-Somalia war of 1977–1978 in the Bale region as a security measure. It was stretched to almost the entire country in 1985 and 1986, and as a result, 40% of the Ethiopian rural population was incorporated. Generally, the resettlement and villagization program had failed, and contrary to expectations, it multiplied the number of opponent groups over the Derg rule in addition to the contender rebel group in the north and along the border areas (Jemes et al., 2002).

4. Post 1991 government preparedness against prevalence of famine

The government started a large poverty reduction and development initiative to ensure long-term food security and economic transformation. Poverty is defined as having an income or consumption level that is below than a certain threshold, sometimes known as the poverty line. Understanding the course of poverty and development in certain countries or societies entails various conceptual and theoretical challenges (Ravallion, 1998).

Poverty is defined by more than just a lack of income, according to a World Bank research. It could be a set of basic necessities like nourishment, health care, education, and access to basic facilities and protection. According to this criterion, the majority of developing countries, particularly those in Sub-Saharan Africa, are among the poorest in the world. According to the World Bank research, violence, a lack of robust institutions, and a lack of resilience are key barriers to improving the prospects of the region’s inhabitants (World Bank, 2018).

Ethiopia suffered from erroneous economic policies, drought, famine and repeated civil wars under military control between 1974 and 1991, in addition to climate issues. Since the early 1980s, the country has faced multiple droughts, resulting in a food shortage that has left a considerable section of the people insecure in food. However, between 1990 and 2015, the government made exceptional progress in eradicating severe poverty accompanied with drought and famine. In 1991, the government implemented several market-oriented reforms, the majority of which were geared at supporting agricultural and rural growth. In 1992, the Ethiopian government implemented the Agriculture Development Led to Industrialization (ADLI) strategy, emphasizing the agricultural sector’s function as a trigger for urgent food and nutrition safety enhancement and protracted or wide-ranging economic growth (Dube et al., 2019; World Bank, 2004).

The Ethiopian government has pledged a poverty reduction and economic growth plan, with a focus on the rural sector and agriculture. The agriculture industry is the country’s principal economic activity, employing more than 85% of the population, yet the poverty rate is higher than in the metropolitan region. As a result, policies and plans of action aimed at transforming development and eradicating poverty and causes of famine have focused on agriculture and the rural communities. Several development and poverty reduction programs were created to support ADLI strategies, including the Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program (SDPRP) in 2001, the Food Security Program (FSP) in 2004, and the Agricultural Growth and Rural Development Strategy and Programs (AGRDSP) in 2004. As a result of the lessons learned from the causes and effects of famine since the 1950s, the newly established Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopian (FDRE) government was able to devise an efficient strategy to combat famine triggers after 1991 (Tewelde Haile, 2015).

5. Conclusion

Famine is mostly related to poverty and has mostly prevailed in poor and developing countries. Famine appeared in Ethiopia in a cyclical pattern from the early ninth century to the end of the twentieth century. The causes of the famine in Ethiopia had different dimensions and perceptions. During the medieval period, people associated famine with a catastrophic punishment directed by God as a wave of anger against the wrongdoing of humans and an event followed by the death of a great king. In the history of Ethiopia, a recorded event of famine was admitted with the rise of the great famine, called “kifu Qen” of 1888–1892. In the 20th century, Ethiopia had been repeatedly hit by famine. From these, the 1972–1974 and 1984–1985 famines left a bad image and effect on the Ethiopian people and Ethiopian history. However, after the 1991 famine in Ethiopia, the population decreased steadily due to the implementation of the early warning scheme, and the control and prevention program by the government. Nonetheless, the country is vulnerable to climatic change, geopolitical insecurity, and high population density. Hence, it is still under the threat of drought and famine, particularly with natural climatic disturbances and human-made activities.

Ethiopia’s climate is not the only factor contributing to the country’s ongoing food insecurity. Rainfall is typically higher than in countries in Southern Europe, even in years of drought. However, the country is experiencing more frequent dry seasons and rainfall patterns, which is a serious issue for a country that produces the majority of its food through small-scale, rain-fed agriculture. Water harvesting and all kinds of irrigation systems, big, small, and micro, are needed to lessen the vulnerability of farming and livestock to increasingly unpredictable weather.

Although Ethiopia has seen an increase in crop yields recently, the country still has some of the lowest agricultural productivity in Africa. For a nation where the majority of people rely on agriculture for their livelihood, this is a burden. The main cause of Ethiopia’s low productivity is land, which affects many other factors as well. Farm plots are far too small and dispersed, with an average size of just 1.2 ha or even as little as 0.5 ha in more vulnerable areas, to benefit from economies of scale or even to feed the typical family of five. The suitability of a location for particular uses is not taken into account when raising livestock and growing crops. All of the land is owned by the government, which makes farmers’ tenure less secure. As a result, smallholders have less incentive to make improvements to their plots and have a harder time getting financing for such assets.

Numerous other factors related to resources and expertise also affect productivity. Crop yields can be significantly increased by adding inputs like better seeds, fertilizer, and pesticides, but these are all in short supply on Ethiopian farms. Less than 10% of the demand is met by national supplies of improved seeds (drought- or pest-resistant, higher-yielding, nutrient-rich). Similarly to this, Ethiopia uses far less fertilizer than is ideal and far less fertilizer per hectare than is typical in other rapidly developing African nations. Pre-harvest cereal losses from insects are estimated to range from 31% to 61%; chemical and biological pest controls are also sparingly used. By providing farmers with crop management guidance and training that takes into account Ethiopia’s diverse agroecological zones, better extension services could also help increase production.

Ethiopia must drastically increase productivity if it is to feed its rapidly expanding population, but many of the increasing numbers of rural youth looking for work will not be able to find employment in the countryside. The most productive areas of Ethiopia are already under cultivation, and expanding the agricultural frontier would endanger the country’s fragile ecosystems on the outskirts. As urbanization quickens, Ethiopia will need to step up efforts to develop the industrial and service sectors so that employment opportunities exist for internal migrants. In order for Ethiopia to be able to buy more food supplies on the global market, it should also increase the production of exportable goods, whether manufactured or commodities like minerals and coffee. To unlock the nation’s greatest untapped potential for job creation and additional economic growth, costly and pointless restrictions on the private sector should be lifted.

All the aforementioned steps to address the root causes of food insecurity necessitate significant funding and forceful public policy changes. Unfortunately, Ethiopia’s governance structure is ill-suited to selecting among various reform avenues. This would necessitate widespread public participation in transparent consultations with all interested parties, where trade-offs could be understood and taken into account when making decisions. Ethiopia would need to enhance accountability mechanisms, giving free media, civil society organizations, farmers’ representatives, and political parties a prominent role; establish sincere participation mechanisms at the local, regional, and federal levels; and strengthen transparency through routine information sharing and the involvement of independent media.

Despite not being the main factor in food insecurity, effective humanitarian aid is essential for preventing hunger. Based on a system that minimizes and lessens the impact of shocks, disaster prevention, and risk management should be used. In order to prevent the full depletion of assets, Ethiopia’s strategic grain reserve system must be prepared to act as soon as food shortages arise. Additionally, links between development and humanitarian efforts need to be reinforced. Therefore, the government and policymakers at different levels should work hard to implement sustainable food security and food self-sufficiency schemes across the country.

Additional information

Funding

The author received no funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Dagm Alemayehu Tegegn

Dagm Alemayehu Tegegn, the author, is a doctoral fellow at Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University. In 2016, he received his MA degree in history from Jimma University. He worked as an assistant professor at Bule Hora University, Ethiopia. He has published articles in national and international journals on a variety of subjects, including political history, socio-economic history, economic history, cultural history, and education.