MEKELLE (IRIN) – The humanitarian situation in the drought-affected north and north-eastern Ethiopia continues to deteriorate as severe drought bites.
“Rainfall in October, which was unexpected, was not of great help to the crops that were planted in May; only the livestock benefited temporarily, now the people are facing a significant crop failure,” a humanitarian worker, who requested anonymity, told IRIN on 23 November.
The area has experienced successive failures of the Belg (short rains ending in May) and Meher (long rains, which start in late July) in the past few years, resulting in low crop yields in some parts and near-crop failure in others.
The aid worker, a member of an inter-agency assessment mission to Tigray in the Eastern Zone in the northeast, said signs were that the situation could deteriorate, with rising malnutrition rates, crop failure, water shortages, population movement to areas where drought was less severe, as well as greater dependency on relief aid.
The findings of the assessment, by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Disaster Management and Food Security Sector, the Tigray Regional Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Department, OCHA, the World Food Programme, the UN Children’s Fund and several NGOs, including Relief Society of Tigray, will be concluded by end-November. These results will determine how many people will require emergency food aid and non-food assistance in 2009.
The Ethiopian government Woyanne and its humanitarian partners issued an update on 14 October, seeking emergency aid for an estimated 6.4 million people across the country.
A multi-agency rapid assessment of the drought situation in Tigray at end-September, and included in the October requirement document, recommended the provision of emergency food aid to an estimated 600,000 in nine “hotspot” woredas (districts) countrywide.
Tigray authorities requested the multi-agency assessment team in November to cover 27 woredas out of 34 in the region, a sign that drought was spreading fast.
Some residents of woredas affected in the Eastern Zone, such as Kilte Awlaelo, Atsbi Womberta and Tse-se Tsada Ambat, told IRIN they were considering migrating to other parts of the country, while others were contemplating selling their livestock, despite falling prices, to survive.
Gebremedhin Gebregergis, a farmer in Kihen Tabia of Kilte Awlaelo woreda, said his one-acre Teff crop had almost failed and he expected to harvest less than one quintal (100kg) and leave the most stunted for his one oxen and one cow.
“To survive, I have to sell some of the livestock, mostly the sheep and goats; but this will not be enough as the animals don’t fetch much on the market,” Gebremedhin, who has eight children, said. “Already I cannot send one of my children to high school even though he has completed Grade Eight because I cannot afford it; the priority is to be able to feed my family.”
Malnutrition rising
A health extension worker in Kilte Awlaelo said malnutrition rates had increased compared with three months ago and the health ministry had intensified efforts to prevent increases in cases of diseases such as malaria, diarrhoea, eye ailments, worm infestation and pneumonia.
“In June, we screened 746 children under-five for malnutrition but the figure dropped to only 415 in October because some of the children had moved to other parts of the country with their parents while others were no longer attending school because of the drought,” the health worker said.
They were now planning to screen the children every month, instead of every three months, to capture those severely and moderately malnourished early. “We were also screening pregnant women and lactating mothers every three months but we will also shift to screening them on a monthly basis.”
Escape by migration
Birizaf Tsegay, 17, a resident of Wukro village in Atsbi Womberta woreda, said the drought had reduced the harvest from her mother’s two-hectare farm to such an extent that migration by some family members was inevitable.
“What we harvested recently is not enough for our family; it may not even last one month,” she said. “I dropped out of school from Grade Three because I was unable to buy exercise books, my elder sister is also out of school, only my two younger brothers are still in school; to survive, some of us, including myself, will have to move to look for work in other woredas so as to send money home.”
In its September Focus on Ethiopia report, OCHA reported that emergency aid in Tigray had been extended to November due to poor food security in the region.
“There is a limited supply of cereals in most markets compared to livestock availability,” OCHA said.
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FORUM | 9 Comments
It does not matter as long as it rains in Canada, USA and Australia. As long as woyane is in power, he will buy grain with money embezzeled from the Ethiopian people and feed them.
[Reply]
November 27th, 2008 at 11:18 AM
koster
off with your bitter and derigatory words. Leave these people alone, man. Leave us and let’s live our lives. We are living by the sweat of our brow, not by money embezzled from somewhere.We have defeated people like you and will keep defeating anyone who spread heresays about the people of Tiger.
Take care
[Reply]
November 27th, 2008 at 11:49 AM
Here is a prime example that Woyanne doesn’t care about any ethnic group in Ethiopia, Woyanne uses ethnicity to divide and rule the Ethiopian people. If Woyanne cared about the people of Tigray who are 90% rural they would have built dams, water reservoirs, modern irrigation farming and other systems to make the people food self sufficient, that will never happen under Woyanne because they don’t want to see development in Ethiopia, they would rather use the people to amass more and more donated aid food and sell it at profit.
Tigray’s climate is identical to that of Eritrea, this year Eritrea had less harvest because of the drought in the highlands but in Eritrea people have access to water and are building modern irrigation based agriculture, they can have two to three harvests a year. You don’t hear Eritrea begging for food from western powers because all food aid does is promote laziness, makes the government a puppet of western designs and keeps the people perpetually dependent on the charity of neo-colonial powers who don’t have the best interest of the people at heart.
All Woyanne did to placate the people of Tigray is make them believe they are getting better treatment than the rest of the Ethiopian people and isolated them from the rest of Ethiopia and made them hated, thus the Woyanne uses youngsters who could be working and supporting their families to further their tyranny on the people of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa by recruiting them to carry weapons for them. Soon enough the people of Tigray will realize that they are being used and will turn on Woyanne like the rest of Ethiopia. This is what happens when a junta is so drunken by power. The downfall of Woyanne will be uglier than that of Haile Selassie and Menghistu.
[Reply]
November 27th, 2008 at 12:58 PM
There isn’t much surprise at the speed of Woyane’s report to shortage of food in Tigray. How long did it take them to even admit that there was shortage of food in Soutrhern states and Oromia. Not until they were forced by the UN. There action reflects the Apartheid system the Ethiopian people are subjected to.
[Reply]
November 27th, 2008 at 2:13 PM
yes there is drought but as meles said during his recent tour of tigray” lenate yalhone leman, e ill get you food” , while poor Ogadenia and other Mehal ager people are left to starve and die.. please atch meles’ tour of tigray on this link and click oct. 12 and oct 5 programs..
http://www.oppnakanalen.se/stockholm/webtv/?cat=24
and you ill see hat he says in tigragna…like thanks god I was one of you.., you broght us to poer we will do anything for u, lenate yalhone leman and so on
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November 27th, 2008 at 2:13 PM
Only the tinny ethnice group[ tegeres] in ethiopia can move from one palce to another place in thiopia where less drought’s areas in the era of TPLF.The ethiopia’s people have deep rooted culture of supporting each other in difficult times ,when there is some economical problem or drought in tegray, the people could move from tegeray to another places to save them selves., but now the narrow minded and terrorists group [ TPLF] has been dividing by ethnice line and closed them in one place. most probably tegeres can move to another places in drought’s time
[Reply]
November 27th, 2008 at 3:24 PM
How long did it take the TPLF to acknowledge the shortage of food in the southern regions of Ethiopia? After several attempts by the UN to warn them of the impending shortage and human suffering, it took TPLF more than 6 months even to admit to what the UN has forwarned them. The TPLF keeps on giving all the justifications why the Ethiopian people need to take actions to bring down this government, but we are not there yet.
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November 27th, 2008 at 4:57 PM
I would not say i am happy there is a drought in tigray but
this may be showing to this tplf leadership to acknowledge
a drought could happen any where and need fast response in
every sector of ethiopia not only in tigray because there
has been neglect for other part’s of ethiopia for the same
drought problems .
[Reply]
November 27th, 2008 at 8:51 PM
ድርቅ በተለያየ ወቅት በተለያየ ቦታ ይመጣል አሁንም ያው ነው የሆነው ሆኖም ግን ወያኔ ከትግራይ ሰለወጣ ብቻ የትግራይ ህዝብ መወቀስ አይገባውም
[Reply]
November 28th, 2008 at 6:51 AM