The rain is pouring in the Oromiya and SNNP regions of Ethiopia, where MSF started emergency nutritional activities in mid-May. The landscape has turned bright green, but when MSF staff are checking children’s nutritional status, the colour of the test goes too often from yellow to red, indicating malnutrition. More than 21,500 patients suffering from severe malnutrition have already been admitted to MSF nutritional centres in the past three months. In the Siraro district of the Oromiya region, a second food distribution has reached 12,500 children suffering from, or at risk from, severe malnutrition. In some places the situation is stabilising or even improving, but in the highlands of the SNNP region it is still worsening.
Mothers and children are waiting at an MSF feeding centre in Tunto, SNNP region. August 2008
Photo by Fastxmsf
“It is not possible to identify a general trend across the country because the crisis is highly localised”, says Sally Stevenson, head of mission in Ethiopia. “There are different agroclimatic zones and the timeframe for rains varies. Even in places where the rate of admissions is slowly declining, the population continues to need food support. We treat acute malnutrition, but it doesn’t fulfil the deep need for food in the most affected places.”
Despite food distribution by agencies such as the Ethiopian government and World Food Programme (WFP), demand in some places is still high. In the south, the maize harvest is expected in a few weeks. However, Jamar, a farmer, is not optimistic. He lives in Beisha in the Kindo Dindaye District, SNNP region. “Half of the two parcels I cultivate are spoiled. First it was too sunny and then too rainy. We are ten in the family”. Jamar is not alone. Many tracts of land aren’t yielding the crop farmers dearly need. Jamar is lucky to have his livestock as capital; many do not.
In Patata, Kindo Dindaye District, Godebo is optimistic that the harvest will be ready in one or two months. But with only one parcel of land to cultivate, subsistence will be tough. “I have children to feed and we have only one season for staple food. I don’t sell the maize and the wheat I produce – it’s all for the family, but it lasts only two or three months. After, it’s only Ensete”. Ensete’s a plant that grows throughout Ethiopia and resembles a banana tree – it’s known as ‘false banana’ – it does not produce fruit.