The most pressing food crisis in the world is currently in Ethiopia, the Secretary General of the United Nations for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes said today while in Addis Ababa.Farmers are affected by a persistent drought and high food prices. "With regard to the urgency that has created food shortages and the risk of children dying of hunger, I do not think there was another crisis like this," said Holmes.
The United Nations official is on a three-day visit to Ethiopia to observe on the ground the efforts of the Ethiopian Government, UN agencies and international organizations for humanitarian assistance to solve the needs of more than ten million hungry people.
At the same time, the sharp increases in the price of food and fuel have hampered the efforts of assistance from the World Food Programme, whose purchasing power has been halved. In May, the World Food Programme said the price of staples such as maize and sorghum had increased by 83 and 89 per cent respectively in less than a year, while wheat increased by 54 per cent between September 2007 and February 2008.
On the first day of his visit to Ethiopia, Holmes visited a feeding centre, where dozens of pregnant women were weighed and examined by medical personnel.
Nationwide, approximately 75,000 Ethiopian children have been directly affected by the drought and are at risk of severe acute malnutrition. Although the country has experienced economic growth of 11 per cent over the past five years, the majority of the farmers continue to depend on rainfall for their crops. "Until the rains come, international aid donors will have to lend their support," said Holmes. Ethiopia has called on United States and United Kingdom for $140 million in assistance.
"One difficulty is that these problems are worsening in all regions of the world and the resources that donors can provide are not unlimited," explained the manager of the UN Humanitarian Affairs.
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(Source: RI)