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2008-09-16 issue:

Drought, high food prices hit Ethiopians

81,000 people need 3,000 tons of corn, wheat and cooking oil before October.

by Tim Shenk

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Mennonite Central Committee is appealing for $1.5 million in financial contributions to provide emergency food assistance to people who are facing hunger in Ethiopia and other countries because of drought and high global food prices. MCC is working with a partner organization, the Meserete Kristos Church Relief and Development Association (MKCRDA), to distribute more than 3,000 metric tons of corn, wheat and cooking oil to about 81,000 people in the Boricha and Awassa Zuria districts of southwestern Ethiopia. The Meserete Kristos Church is a Mennonite World Conference member.

Boricha and Awassa Zuria are densely populated districts where many families tend small farms. Local harvests failed in June and July because of inadequate rains in February and March, according to Mekonnen Dessalgn, MCC’s Ethiopia program manager.

Meanwhile, food prices have risen sharply throughout Ethiopia, making it more difficult for families who lost their crops to purchase what they need. Corn is more than three times as expensive in Ethiopia as it was a year ago, Dessalgn says.

Even in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, children are leaving school early because they do not have enough to eat, Dessalgn says.

Earlier this year, some families in Boricha and Awassa Zuria were forced to sell their cattle at low prices to buy staple foods, Dessalgn says.

In June, MCC and MKCRDA began distributing food in Boricha and Awassa Zuria, and local people stopped selling off their cattle, according to Dessalgn. In exchange for the food, more than 9,000 men and women are working on community projects, including digging reservoirs, building terraces to control erosion and planting trees.

MCC and MKCRDA are also distributing bean seeds and sweet potato cuttings to more than 3,600 farm families in Boricha and Awassa Zuria.

MCC received funding for these projects from the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. However, because of rising prices, MCC needs an additional $1 million to continue distributing food until the end of October, when families will be able to harvest their crops, according to Bruce Guenther, an MCC relief coordinator.

Because of the global rise in food prices, many countries where MCC works are experiencing food shortages. MCC is planning to provide an additional $500,000 in emergency food aid in locations that will soon be determined, according to Ron Flaming, MCC’s director of international programs.

Contributions to Mennonite Central Committee should be designated “Food for All.”—Tim Shenk of MCC

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