International aid agency Oxfam is calling for a radical revision of the way international donors approach food aid in Ethiopia. Speaking to Radio Netherlands, the organisation singled out the United States as maintaining a “knee-jerk” and ineffective policy on food aid.

The report, “Band Aids and Beyond”, was published today on the 25th anniversary of a famine in which an estimated one million Ethiopians died. Today, the organisation says the situation is not quite as severe, but drought remains a constant mortal threat, costing an estimated US $ 1.1 billion a year.

Not a surprise
The lack of progress in shielding Ethiopia from drought owes to an aid policy that ignores  prevention, says Nick Martleew, humanitarian policy advisor at Oxfam Ethiopia.

“Drought is becoming increasingly common, likely because of climate change. So rather than responding to each drought with an approach dominated by food aid – reacting as if it’s a surprise – the international community should be doing more to prevent each drought from becoming a disaster that causes the humanitarian suffering we see today.”

Farm lobby
Ethiopia receives 70% of its international aid from the United States, 90% of which is food aid shipped from the United States. It provides temporary relief during emergencies, but overall the policy is “stuck in an age of cold war interests and of supporting the farm lobby,” says Mr Martleew.

“It’s not cost-effective for US taxpayers. They have to pay for the subsidised food, they have to pay to ship it over to Ethiopia, then the US taxpayers have to pay on top of that for the development that food aid doesn’t contribute to. If some of that money were used instead to try and prevent disasters and prepare communities for them, they would actually need less expensive food aid in the future.”

Prevention
Oxfam would rather see money diverted to preventative tactics, helping communities anticipate and prepare for the inevitable droughts. For example, says Mr. Martleew, in one Ethiopian village that suffered annual food shortages for a three-month period, food was distributed only in exchange for work on an irrigation project. The community is now self-sufficient year-round and has some left to sell.  

The Ethiopian government is proposing precisely such an approach for disaster risk management, but it can’t implement the plan without foreign aid.

“What we want to see though is a more cost-effective approach for US taxpayers, as well as a more effective approach for Ethiopia, and that means not importing food, but taking an approach that builds on the strength of Ethiopians,” Mr. Martleew said.

Read the Oxfam report