Coping up the drought

                                                                                                                  Desta Hailu

Recently it is stated that drought has occurred in some areas of our country. As stated by FDRE Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission, as the expected rain from October to December didn’t come in the southern and eastern part of Ethiopia, 5.6 million people are facing drought. And in order to fight off the drought, 948 million dollar is needed, and out of this, 598 million dollars will go to food, 105 million dollar to health and 86 million dollar to clean water.The government has asked for donor countries to raise this money. But this doesn’t mean that the government will sit by idly if the countries don’t assist us. The government didn’t do that in the past, and it will not be the case in the future.

As it is known, our government has asked 1.4 billion dollar assistance from donor countries when last year millions of our people were affected by El-Nino induced drought in the worst drought our country has seen for the past 50 years. And as the assistance that was gotten from the donors is not that much, the government had to save its people through its on capabilities. It served as an instance to show the bulging capacity of the country that comes from the development work that has been done during the past years.

The government will do anything to save our citizens that are affected by the drought, and it is doing so currently. By understanding the depth and seriousness of the problem beforehand, the government has formulated and executed an action directive that would help the damage that would be caused on the economy and the people.

Of course it is not the first time for a climate change induced drought to occur in our country. And as this is caused by nature, there can’t be anything that can be done. However, the government has exerted huge effort to make sure the drought that occurs in our country will not turn into a famine.

As it is known, our government has been working hard to make sure our people would not go hungry even if drought occurs due to climate change. And during the time when the El-Nino phenomenon occurred, the fact that the government was able to mitigate the problem before it turned into famine without getting much help from development partner countries goes to show this fact.

In my belief, the fact that the government was able to quickly respond to the climate change induced drought and provide assistance, and the fact that it provided its support in developmental manner shows the responsibility and accountability it holds toward is citizens and its commitment as well.

Even seven years ago at a time when 14.5 million people were facing food shortages, the FDRE government has been successful in making sure that the drought would not turn into famine, let alone now when there is huge growth that is being recorded as a result to the development strategy that was formulated.

I think it is obvious for anyone that this outcome didn’t come out of the blue or out of nothing – as all this emanated from the woks the government undertaken in previous years with an aim to change the livelihood of our country’s farmers and pastorals. Of course the FDRE government has given the needed and appropriate attention to improve the lives of the farmers and pastorals.

And through it, a new path where the farmers reached the level where they are able to not only feed themselves but to produce surplus and provide to the market in the process have been achieved. They have reached a level where they not only can improve their lives, but the country is also able to get the needed benefit from the agriculture sector. It can be said that the measures taken by the government to achieve this feet are an illustration to it.

As it is known, Ethiopia has huge land it can use for agriculture. However, due to various reasons, the level of land that is believed to be in the hands of the farmer is small. In addition to this, the product the farmers produced from this small land is low by itself. And the production tools they have used have been backward for long.

Understand these facts; the FDRE government has made wide-ranging efforts to improve the situation. And through the result, the thinking that it is not possible to bring change in the farms of the smallholder farmers has been broken. By giving attention to smallholder farmers and adhering to a sound directive, the government was able to help achieve results. By formulating similar policy amendments close to the areas of the farmers and implementing it, the government was able to hugely reduce the damage drought could bring.

Out of these governmental efforts, formulating pastoral development packages; changing the lifestyle of the pastorals to a modern one; benefiting the pastorals by expanding the irrigation development works that would not only help solve drought sustainably but also in transferring them into semi-farmers and elevate their advantages by providing them with best seeds; strengthening the works to collect ground and surface water;  them to accept the villagization program with their consent so that it would benefit them in infrastructure and in other development sectors; strengthening the people to people relation and create national consensus through it are to name a few.

As been said already, the government has been working relentlessly to make sure our people will not go hungry even if climate change induced drought occurs in our country. As far as I can understand, the fact that the government was able to quickly respond to the drought the may occur in the country and provide assistance, and the fact that it used a supervision or monitoring procedure in order to make sure the help is provided in the appropriate manner have all helped it reach to its current level of capacity.

However, some individual try to downplay this capability of the government that enabled it to take care of the problem by itself. This thinking of theirs is completely untrue. As its known, our country which is led by the developmental and democratic government has been able to cope up with problems due to the development and growth it achieved for the past consecutive years.

By encouraging state and private investments and by trying to root out rent-seeking opportunities; by doing works that will not be done by the private sector; by utilizing the limited resource on development works that would solve basic problems of the country; by coordinating and leading development forces; and by strengthening public participation and encouraging private investment within these past years, it was possible to bring rapid, sustainable and equitable economic growth and social development.

And this economic growth and social development is a precursor to the second phase Growth and Transformation Plan that is being implemented currently. And the growth will inevitably bring us closer to our renaissance by helping us solve the problems we may face. Here I want it to be understood that I am not saying ‘we don’t need the support of donor countries because we are growing’. As long as each and every cent we may get play role benefit to help solve our problem, they cannot be underestimated. And every cent should be optimally utilized.

In regards to this, in order to mitigate the drought problem that has occurred currently, if more support gained from donor countries the better. But if not or if the support that came is not at the needed level, the government will face up to the problem together with the people as it is its responsibility to do so. And in order to do this, the capability of the government I talked about earlier will help it respond to it, and it is doing so as we speak.

In general, the development path our government followed through is helping us cop up with the drought. And currently, in order to mitigate the drought that occurred in the southern and eastern part of our country, the government will identify the challenges that it will face by learning from past lessons and will undertake its responsibility. And by understanding that the government will cope with this climate change induced drought, I say that each citizen should play their own role.