Case Study

Introduction

Amina Mohamed wakes up to the smell of the food her husband has brought from the market. It’s the first time she’s seen food in two days. She gently nudges her daughter Michu on the other side of the bed. “Wake up, sweetie, Daddy’s brought food home,” she says in her native Ethiopian tongue. Her daughter doesn’t move. Thinking her daughter is just in a deep sleep, Amina nudges her again, a little harder this time. “Come on Michu, I know you’re hungry,” she says. Michu still doesn’t move. Afraid now, Amina jumps off the bed and rushes to her daughter. She shakes her, at first softly, and then harder and harder. Convinced now that her daughter is not just asleep, tears start rolling down Amina’s face. “Please, Michu, don't do this to me now,” she chokes. She puts her ear to her daughter’s chest, and she hears a faint heartbeat. Swiftly, Amina picks her daughter up, carries her in her arms, and starts running. The nearest intensive care is three miles away. She will run barefoot, carrying her daughter the entire way. For the next two hours she runs. She doesn’t notice her bleeding feet or her chafed arms. Finally, she reaches the center, and she rushes in. “Please, someone help me,” she yells, “Please, please, save my daughter...”

In order to better understand the food crisis, we will present a case study of its domineering presence in the African country of Ethiopia. Africa, as most of us know, is a continent laden with abject poverty and suffering. More than 210 million people in the continent live on less than US $1 a day, while 400 million people live on less than US $2 a day. With such numbers that are still expected to increase in the near future, the very survival of the continent is at stake. Much of the continent’s population is forced to spend over 50% of its income on purchasing a slice of bread. The current food crisis has since then pushed food prices to never before seen levels in Africa, and it’s the continent’s people that are suffering the most. Below, we will take you through the African country of Ethiopia and analyze the causes, impacts, and actions taken in response to the food crisis. Through this in-depth case study of Ethiopia, we hope to shed light on the suffering of countries all around the world due to the food crisis.

Background

Located west of Somalia in Eastern Africa, Ethiopia is one of the continent’s most prominent countries. With a total surface area of around 1,127,127 km2 and a population of 82.5 million, it is also one of Africa’s most populated countries.

Prices in Ethiopia have increased by over 500% in recent years and for a country whose population lives off less than a few dollars a day, this is not a situation that can be neglected. This sort of hyperinflation would have devastating impacts on even developed countries, let alone Ethiopia, which at best qualifies as a developing country.

With 10.1% of Ethiopia’s land being extremely arable, the country is well suited for agricultural purposes. Thus, it is not surprise that Ethiopia’s economy is mainly agricultural, accounting for 50% of GDP, 60% of exports and 80% of employment.

However, recent factors such as conflicts and adverse weather conditions have led to a dip in national GDP in Ethiopia, which has in turn caused much of the nation’s population to be living far below the poverty line.

Causes

Despite the pledges made during the Gleneagles summit in 2005, the Ethiopian government has not taken immediate action. The Ethiopian government seems to be sticking to the “all-talk-no-action” policy instead. For example, the government has been accused of acting to ban food aids and blocking supplies from coming into the country. The Ethiopian government has also been reported to distribute aid money to its military rather than its people. Due to this and poor food aid distribution policies, fewer supplies are able to reach those in need.

Without large scale aid from other countries or organizations, Ethiopians are suffering from the food crisis.

Unfavorable weather conditions also contribute to the food crisis in Ethiopia. For example, Ogaden, the Somali region of Ethiopia, where over 1 million people are in need of emergency food aid, has been facing 3 successive years of major spring rain failures. Life without crop and livestock has become very difficult for the pastoralist population.

Much of the once arable land in Ethiopia has now also turned into barren wasteland, and can no longer produce as much food. Without its arable soil, Ethiopia, once the largest provider of food to its own people in Africa, has become the largest recipient of food aid on the continent.

Disease has also caused the decrease of able-bodied workers, which results in less financial ability of families to buy food and less labor to produce crops efficiently. One major disease affecting Ethiopia is AIDS, which caused more than 120,000 deaths in 2003. In the same year, another 1.5 million Ethiopians were diagnosed with AIDS, greatly decreasing the number of able-bodied laborers in the work force and the financial ability of families to purchase food.

Impacts

In Africa, food prices are estimated to have increased by as much as 25% in less than a year due to the global food crisis.

As a result, now over 4.5 million people in Ethiopia are in need of emergency food aid.

The producers of food in Ethiopia are also suffering. Recently, because prices of chemicals and fertilizers have doubled, poor farmers can no longer afford such goods, which in turn results in a sharp decline in food stock

Ethiopia is also a large exporter of coffee beans, but the export revenues have decreased drastically due to the food crisis, falling nearly 42% in just one year. With the low income in Ethiopia and 40-45% of the population living on less than $1 a day, export of coffee must be maximized in order to break the poverty barrier in the country.

Millions of people in Ethiopia are now suffering physically due to the food crisis. Currently, over 126,000 Ethiopian children need urgent medical attention due to severe malnutrition while at the same time, many Ethiopians are dying everyday due to the rapid spread of hunger-related diseases. 

Conclusion

“We’re sorry… we did everything we could… malnutrition…” Amina doesn’t hear the rest of what the doctor says because she was wailing hysterically. “Michu!” The dried streaks of tears across her face are washed away by new ones. Her knees buckle, and she was on the floor. Someone comes to help her up but she pushes them away violently. “Michu!” she continues to yell. Soon she has no energy left and collapses on the floor. “Michu…” she cries, “My daughter…”