Can Ethiopians Ever Spare Themselves From Hunger And Humiliation?
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Addis Tribune (Addis Ababa)
OPINION
November 1, 2002
Posted to the web November 1, 2002
Asrate
"Aid agencies call assistance to Ethiopia" Addis Tribune, September 27/02); "Zimbabwe suffers worst food crisis" (Associated Press, September 9/2002), "Ethiopia's unprecedented crisis" (BBC news Oct. 1/2002) are some of the headlines that come out from the print and electronic media these days regarding the worsening food crisis in Africa. To those of us who were born and destined to die hearing and experiencing these saddening calls for international assistance, they are nothings new and probably evoke little emotional tremors in our daily lives. To those who are sensitive to this unceasing assault on the dignity and sheer survival of entire peoples and nations, these calls are, yet another scar on a deeply wounded body politic.
Ethiopia is again on the verge of another major food crisis and the government is doing all it can to let the world know about the impending catastrophe. As usual, commitments are being made by such generous donors as the USA, European Union, the United Nations and humanitarian organizations from around the globe. From the assessment of the Prime Minister of the country, the commitments already made may not be enough to deal with the impending disaster facing the estimated 14 million Ethiopians at risk (Addis Tribune, Sept, 27/02). What we do not hear from the government is why the nation has been unable to learn from the experiences of the past and chart out a strategy of food security that could extricate it from the humiliation of begging the international community every time there is a minor or a major aberration in weather conditions. Have we sunk so low as a people and nation as to knock on the door of every country and international agency to deliver us from starvati!
on!
? Does the fall in the price of coffee and hence foreign exchange earnings justify our incapacity or institutional paralysis to think in terms of fending for ourselves as the Prime Minister seems to suggest? Where is the Ethiopian pride and spirit of dogged perseverance that spared our country from the indignity and humiliation of colonialism? Has it been robbed by successive dictatorial rulers whose elite lend more respect and attention to foreign governments, agencies and mass media than to their own peoples? Or have we, as an ancient society, come to old age and senility that we have failed to take care of ourselves? These and other questions deserve to be answered.
I am asking these questions because I feel so denigrated and humiliated by the never-ending practice of prostrating before the international community and begging for alms every time there is a slight aberration in weather conditions. When a government and entire body politic of a nation fail to feed the population adequately and protect it from indignity and humiliation, they have no business of exercising sovereignty over it. In a recent CNN presentation on Sierra Leone, a terribly disappointed Sierra Leonian proposed to the camera crew interviewing him that it was time to recall the British, the former colonial power, so that they could put the house in order. Of course this might sound a tall order given the politics of the times but his feelings express the hopelessness of the situation in many African countries. In Ethiopia, some Ethiopians have been talking about the 'good old days' under the monarchy out of disgust and utter frustration, not that those days were anyt!
hi!
ng but equally or more brutally sordid but at least times when the Ethiopian population could move about easily and facilitate better circulation of food among the various parts of the country. One could say that the internal coping mechanism was not so hopelessly eroded as we see it today. And there was at least some level of self-respect among both the people and the government!
The political leadership of many African countries has been so alienated from the common people that hunger and starvation represent no longer tragic episodes with catastrophic consequences on human lives, economic production and the very social fabric of society. In fact, many governments have used that largesse of the international community to bolster their armies and strengthen their bureaucratic grip on their impoverished populations. The concept of entitlement of populations to security, adequate access to basic needs is so alien to governance systems in Africa that international aid agencies have to intervene to avert mass deaths and social catastrophes. The situation reminds me of the position of a Croatian aristocrat who is believed to have expressed the view that he would rather have his horse as a member of the Croatian nation rather than bestow that honor to his indolent peasants. The analogy is not too far off mark in contemporary Africa. African leaders have gi!
ve!
n neo-Malthusians adequate ammunition to justify their unorthodox arguments regarding the asymmetrical relationship between population growth and food supply and the sordid predictions of populations die-offs.
Ethiopia is a country of almost 67 million people of whom some 85% is directly engaged in agricultural production. Yet, the farmers of Ethiopia have been unable to feed themselves and the small urban population adequately for generations now. In spite of the accelerating death rate due to the AIDS epidemic and socio-economic deprivations, the Ethiopian population is increasing fast and is most likely to double in less than a quarter of a century. The current level of poverty is the highest in the world. Almost 69% of the population is estimated to live on US$ 1/day. These demographic realities are indeed shocking particularly in view of our incapacity to deal with even the current population size. In the US, less than 3% of the population is directly engaged in agriculture and yet this small percentage not only feeds the 285 million Americans more than adequately but also dominates world trade in agricultural commodities. The American farm economy is so productive that it ca!
n !
sell virtually limitless amounts of grains to any buyer at any time. While it is definitely not fair to compare apples and bananas, the logic cannot be lost on the reader. I strongly believe that Ethiopia's agro-ecological conditions provide excellent opportunities for a thriving agricultural economy. The problem lies in the system of governance and the priority that we have been giving the agricultural sector in terms of appropriate policy frameworks, technology, investment and markets under successive governments.
Governments come and go but Ethiopian society will continue to survive its tormentors albeit in a wounded and emaciated form. The tragedy is that successive governments have banked on the starvation and humiliation of the population whom they are supposed to care for and administer for their consolidation of power and longevity of misrule. It is particularly disconcerting to see the present government show the same myopia as its predecessor regarding the long-term strategic policy options and vouch for international alms as a solution to a structural problem.
Whatever happened of the so-called agriculture development led industrialization (ADLI)? Ethiopians are tired of development metaphors whether they originate from the World Bank or NGOs. They need and deserve a government whose foremost obligation and responsibility is to institute a system of governance that will enable them grow their own foods or has the decency to allocate adequate funds for emergency situations. It does not take the latest technology in genetic engineering to grow wheat, barley, corn or any other crop for which the Ethiopian ecology is highly suitable. It only takes good and responsible government to give priority to agricultural development and enable the hard working Ethiopian peasants to realize their full potential as better producers. Good governance is a prerequisite for sustained agricultural production and overall economic productivity. It is the lack of this fundamental prerequisite that is at the root of the recurring problem of mass starvatio!
n !
and death. Droughts never kill people in other developing parts of the world. Why should it be different in Ethiopia and indeed the rest of Africa?
Ethiopia's diverse ecological setting provides an excellent opportunity for a complementary system of agricultural production. But alas, Ethiopians can no longer move from region to region freely to engage themselves in productive activities as a result of the restrictive policies of both the 'Dergue' and the current governments. The land and regional governance policies of both governments have become structural blocks against the evolution of an effective, market-oriented and productive agricultural production and trade regime. We have vast stretches of fertile land virtually untouched by sustained human activity idling in many southern, western and eastern parts of the country. The severely degraded highlands of the northern regions of the country could be effectively rehabilitated through careful agricultural practices and conservation measures. The level of irrigated agricultural development is so pitiful that Ethiopian rivers and lakes have virtually remained untapped.!
L!
ikewise, the level of agricultural research is not only pitiful but also largely aimed at demonstration of results rather than increasing land and peasant productivity.
The considerable natural resources of the country have remained mere potentials and people cannot live on potentials. Resources are for the most part technology appraisals as the productive agriculture of such poorly endowed but technologically advanced countries as Israel clearly demonstrates. The difference is not only in technology but also in governance and culture. A society that promotes, legitimizes and purposefully engages itself in begging begets a culture of begging. Begging is so embedded in our culture that it has become almost second nature to us. Genuinely committed political, religious and civic leaders have a critical role to play in breaking the cycle of such shameful cultural practice by condemning it openly. Our political, religious and civic institutions are rather reinforcing it by either doing noting to discourage it or by devising ever ingenious ways of mobilizing finance from international sources for their own development and 'humanitarian' activitie!
s.!
Of course, I may be wrong in assuming that our leaders are interested in the welfare of the population over whom they have been a bone in the throat for almost 30 years now. The Ethiopian people deserve a government that is interested and capable of marshalling significant human and material resources of the country. African post-colonial governments have thrived on the corpses of their helpless populations. Neither droughts nor fluctuations in foreign exchanges earnings should be sufficient cause for humiliating their populations before the international community. Enough is enough! If governments are unable to organize their societies on principles and practices of self-reliance, they have no business of exercising their power on a starving population.
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