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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
USAID Announces an Additional 93,000 Metric Tons for Ethiopia and Eritrea: Millions in Need
U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON, DC 20523
PRESS OFFICE
http://www.usaid.gov
(202) 712-43202002-129
CORRECTED VERSION
November 13, 2002Contact: USAID Press Office
WASHINGTON - U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Andrew S. Natsios announced an additional emergency donation of 62,300 metric tons of food for Ethiopia and 30,540 metric tons for Eritrea, valued at $43 million. Combined, this will feed approximately 7 million people for one month. The additional shipment to Ethiopia increases U.S. food assistance to a total of 234,000 metric tons since July 2002, when the first signs of crop failure became apparent. The assistance to Ethiopia includes wheat, blended cereal, beans and vegetable oil and is valued at $87 million. Emergency food assistance to Eritrea since July 2002 totals 44,000 metric tons and is valued at $19 million. Food commodities have begun to arrive at the ports of Djibouti and Massawa; however, the bulk of the shipments will arrive in December and January.
Currently, more than 5 million people in Ethiopia require food assistance. Including confirmed food donations, only three-quarters of the humanitarian food requirements can be met with current pledges. In 2003, Ethiopia will require more than 100,000 metric tons per month in food assistance.
An unexpectedly severe crop failure in Ethiopia and Eritrea, on the heels of a poor spring harvest, will leave an estimated 11 - 15 million people in need of food assistance in 2003. The Government of Ethiopia, with the support of the international community, maintains a strategic grain reserve. This reserve--originally 300,000 metric tons and now down to 70,000 metric tons--has allowed the World Food Program and non-governmental organizations to begin emergency food assistance distributions quickly. The Ethiopian government has appealed for assistance and is coordinating its response with the international community.
Given the enormity of the need and the number of countries gripped by food shortages, the United States is urging other donors, including those not typically active in food assistance, to assist in meeting the needs in the Horn of Africa. By early December, the crops will be harvested and the total food deficit will be known.
Ethiopia's Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Committee and USAID's Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) were crucial to alerting policy makers of the scale of the crisis. USAID has monitored the on-set and amount of precipitation with on-the-ground reports and satellite imagery. FEWS enables USAID to make contingency plans by creating "best" and "worst" case scenarios.
Food insecurity is chronic in Ethiopia and Eritrea. USAID is working with the governments to address longer term structural problems through health, agriculture, education, and natural resource management programs.
For more information on USAID drought relief efforts in the Horn of Africa, please visit www.usaid.gov/about/hornofafrica/.
The U.S. Agency for International Development has provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for more than 40 years.
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Last Updated on: December 30, 2008 |
