Ethiopia Case Study Essay Research Paper Case

Ethiopia Case Study Essay, Research Paper

Case Study – Ethiopia

Nearly half of Sub Saharan Africa’s 45 independent countries encounter frequent serious food crises. Ethiopia, one of the world’s larger countries, has long been plagues with the torment of poverty, illiteracy, hunger and disease. Famine, a reduction in everyday food supply, is a widespread problem that can strike in any corner of the developing world. Although sometimes unnoticed, this shortage of food slowly leads to hunger and malnutrition. Famine in Ethiopia is not caused by natural disaster, but instead is a direct result of social, political and economic human forces. “Not only are individuals and families dying from starvation there, but whole communities are forces to endure abnormal social and economic activities in order to ensure food”. (5) Due to their lack of development planning in combating these hardships. “Ethiopia is characterized as one of the world’s least developed nations”. (4.65) This case study summarizes the existence of famine in Ethiopia as it related to its causes, both natural and political, resettlement and relief efforts and the issues involved famine in the future.

Existence of Famine – When did it begin.

People die, governments fail, economies breakdown, poverty widens and futures become dark. Famine, war, and destruction appear to have always been an integral piece of human history, at last since the beginning of substantial human population growth. Its existence in Ethiopia has led to “millions of death, especially in women and children under the age of 5″. (3.50) Although many famines have been recorded in human history. Most have occurred in areas of underlying civil conflict.

“The famine in the early 1980’s was first discovered in the West in 1984, four weeks after the celebrations for the tenth anniversary of the rule of the military committee in Ethiopia”. (5) Political in the West had been in dismay when the Dergue announced the formation of the Workers Party of Ethiopia. As a result, there was opposition to the transfer of aid to famine victims there. The government of Ethiopia, for political reasons partly to do with the revolution, was unwilling to declare and emergency and were reluctant to allow access to relief organizations to the affected communities for aid. Therefore, Western relief assistance went only to restricted areas, where government controlled the structure of the military confilicts which obstructed efforts to reach those victims in need. Wars between government troops and liberation fronts in those affected areas soon became the blame for the destruction and famine. War makes it impossible to get food to the people. “The 1984-85 famine was in fact a political crisis characterized more appropriately by was than by drought”. (10.5)

Although focusing on Ethiopia, the widespread problem of famine affects nearly the entire African continent. From food trades and imports/exports to the movement of victims, each country plays a role in the effectiveness of human physical geography.

Causes – Natural or Political.

Most famine conditions in Ethiopia have been associated with crop failures due to drought, flood, war, and lack of proper government intervention and development. Various climatic factors, especially insufficient rainfall, can affect the quality of agriculture, causing immediate destruction of crops, sanitary water supply and markets to be used for future cultivation. “One of Ethiopia’s great misfortunes is that rainfall is not dependable”. (10.10)

Drought occurs when there is an insufficient amount of moisture at the right time available for crops. Because of its direct effects on agricultural production in sub Saharan Africa, the issue of lack of rainfall should not be ignored in development planning. Although nature is often blamed by man, Africa seems to experience prolonged drought as a result of man’s interference with nature.

The effects of drought and famine in Ethiopia are contributed to the lack of efficient development and planning. For development to occur, there must be proficiency in food, status, shelter and security, “along with the funds needed to reproduce failing agricultural production”.(2.28) In countries where sufficient planning occurs, people experience the self motivation to produce and prosper. However, in Ethiopia, with the approaching drought, food, and cash crops fail, animals and people die, while slowly vegetation disappears, disabling the economy.

History demonstrates that famine occurs in nations with high population growths and in areas which lack the resources necessary to guarantee food supplies or provide for public welfare. Failure of a given crop in a season should not result in famine as long as there are other resources available in the community production has been insufficient. Efforts to increase production have negatively been affected by the lack of adequate food storage facilities, inadequate transport due to poor roads and limited markets for the overflow of food.

The limitation of technological advances have also not met expectations of a society attempting to eliminate the threat of famine and hunger in their country. “Funding is not available to peasants who are seeking advanced farm equipment for agricultural production”. (9.44)

While climatic diversity and related factors have played a