How to avert the effects of the recurring drought in Ethiopia

One may say it is easier said than done but I believe my solution to this problem is doable. The famine has become a painstaking and morally demeaning phenomenon that haunts the country every season there is no sufficient rain. The sharp population growth can be claimed as one of the reasons for the easy surrender to the drought. The economic growth of 10% every year for the last half a dozen years hasn't shown results for the whole region of the country. These and other reasons play a major role in contributing to the famine related horror that is unacceptable at this stage of the century.

First thing to be done is to change the way the government and the elites of the country do things. I know there is a political tension from inside and surrounding neighboring countries that persuade the government to deplete its resources for national defense against eminent and potential threats in the region. In my view, there needs to be a protracted effort to secure the health of the state affairs first. The wellbeing of the citizens of the country plays a major role in establishing and expanding a firm defense mechanism. A malnourished and unhealthy youth cannot defend his/her country. When there is a 10% economic growth, it should be understood in terms of alleviating the poverty level of the whole country and not only few areas of the country, in which case there should be an effective mechanism to subsidize those that are not doing well. The next step should be examining why they are not doing well and step up new efforts to improve the situation.

If the government has fulfilled its obligations then why is famine inflicted by draught is becoming the usual breaking news on the TV screens of the world? I am witnessing people are getting tired of hearing this. An in depth look into what is really going on may need a thorough research from fellow experts in the field. I wouldn't say outright this hasn't been done so far, but in spite of all the creative think tank to solve famine related problems, it is not going away. Then there needs to be a look into the implementation of the solutions. My take is, the problem is in the implementation of the ideas that are already being adopted by the government and to a certain extent by the NGOs. So, what is in the way of reducing starvation to its lowest level once and for all? Are the people getting addicted to food aid, which is more damaging for the business and entrepreneurial reputation of the country? I don't think one will put him/herself in this kind of low self esteem just to get food aid.
There are things that need to be done urgently before we experience the same story in the coming 50th year anniversary of the 1984 famine.

1. The government need not do things to make them look good for the public consumption. It needs to deal with problems and keep statistics that reflect the whole country and not necessarily patches of successes. Some groups, especially the opposition may want to point fingers at the ethnic kililization policy of the EPRDF as the reason for many of the problems. The kilils are meant to facilitate the ethnic groups of the killil to take care of their affairs in a way that is feasible to them and not to cause balkanization that creates isolation from the rest of the country. If this is the case, the purpose of kilil is not properly implemented. This should be looked into and strictly denounced from being the norm. The federal government has the obligation to play a swift role in fixing this kind of mischaracterization of a federal system of government.

2. The tradition of depending on the occasionally scant rain is like playing with the Russian roulette. There are innovative measures that need to be taken to reduce dependence on rain. Some of them are digging wells, accumulating rain water, using electric dams for that purpose, irrigation, etc. They all need capital. Unfortunately the food aid is not meant to support these kinds of lasting solutions. There needs to be a way to finance all the measures that alleviate dependence on rain. It is doable with a conviction to break all the usual ways of doing things.

3. The government needs to add to its constitution the urgency of tackling famine as its national security matter. It is the core of all the deliverance of progress. Without eradicating poverty which is as frightening as Ethiopia's, there can't be any five year, ten year plan. So, it is crucial that something similar to a cultural revolution is practiced to get out of the recurring famine whose level could have easily been tackled in most other countries. There shouldn't be any reason Ethiopia can't accomplish this goal. One of the collective actions used for fighting the effects of draught should be forming an emergency task force to look into the early signs of malnutrition, especially in children. If it is because of the negligence of the parents, the children need to be taken away to a federally funded organization that can feed, nurture and educate the children until they manage to support themselves. This organization can easily gain international recognition if its efforts are fruitful.

4. Farming methods need to be totally reformed to create sufficient yield of crops and encourage large scale farming that transforms the subsistence farmers into productive citizens that can support their families. Many think the land lease method introduced by the government is the cause of the problem. We should learn from the fact that in countries like China this kind of land policy hasn't hampered the economic growth it is enjoying. There must be some element of the policy that may be causing it. It needs to be closely studied to identify the problem

Conclusion:
One may say those measures have more or less been introduced in the country. Well, the answer to this is simple. If it hasn’t shown results and the country is repeatedly confronted with begging for food aid every now and then, something may not be working right. Does anybody care to look into this? It is about time things are taken seriously without being too defensive about anything. The government needs to start a 25 year plan right now to avert another looming disaster; that will follow the nation to the 50thyear anniversary of the 1984 famine.