An assessment of the causes of malnutrition in Ethiopia: A ...

viewed as a proxy for household food security, household food security is positively
associated with child nutritional status in some regions, negatively associated in some
regions, and show no consistent association in other regions (Pelletier et al 1995). The study
by Pelletier et al indicated that chronic malnutrition in Ethiopia is not restricted to the
drought-prone areas, that aggregate (regional) food supply is not a major determinant of the
distribution of child malnutrition within the country, and that household food production (if
not security) is neither a strong nor a consistent predictor of child malnutrition status. Their
study indicated that even among the more “food secure” households living in the rural areas
(those cultivating more than 1.5 ha, civil servants and other economic groups), the prevalence
of chronic malnutrition is 50 percent or higher.
Addressing the malnutrition problem via solving the food insecurity problems of
various targeted groups requires an understanding of the characteristics of those who are
under chronic or transitory (acute) food insecurity. From the viewpoint of donors, particularly
in their decisions to give food aid to Ethiopia, the distinction between chronic and transitory
food insecurity (recently being called predictable vs. unpredictable needs) has became
relevant (Raisin 2001). Since 2001, the donor policy statement attempts a definition:
‘Chronically food insecure households are those that cannot meet their food needs in any
given year, regardless of climatic variables or other external shocks…although in practice
shifting vulnerability between food insecure groups makes the separation of chronic and acute
needs complex.’
It has been argued that chronic food insecurity is related more to a lack of productive
assets (livestock, cash, land, and labor) than to climate (Robinson 2003). Maxwell observed
that ‘although there was no major increase in malnutrition during 1995-98, the effect of years
of food insecurity was a slow but steady process of destitution or depletion of assets, which
significantly decreased coping capacity.’ Addressing this chronic insecurity also calls for
reconceptualizing our understanding of famine from a sudden catastrophic event related to
drought to a process inextricably linked to poverty and, in turn, to the timing and nature of our
intervention (Raisin 2001b).
As stated above, even a food secure household or region can be highly affected by
malnutrition due to deficiencies in the non-food factors of nutrition, such as caring, health,
and environment. According to Ethiopia’s 2002 FSS document, a combination of short-term
and long-term causal factors can explain the burden of food insecurity in Ethiopia. Long-term
factors, such as the interaction between environment, high population growth, diminishing
land-holdings, and lack of on-farm technological innovation have led to a significant decline
in productivity per household. These trends, combined with repeated effects of drought, erode
the productive assets of communities and households, which, in turn, leads to increasing
environmental degradation and, more importantly, makes households less able to cope with
shocks because they cannot accumulate savings even in good years.
3.4.4. Regional variations
The administrative regions of Ethiopia have differing population densities, resources,
opportunities and culinary habits, and consequently differ in many aspects of food security.
Nationally food security has been and continues to be a serious challenge. According to a
recent Government declaration (MOFED 2002), at least 44 percent of the Ethiopian
population is estimated to be food insecure. The number of chronically food insecure people
has remained about 5 million per year, with an additional 10 million people in a vulnerable
situation. This number increases in some years, as witnessed in the year 2002/03. The major
causes for food insecurity at individual or household levels, is related to high level of poverty
(access) and inadequate national production of food items (supply).
About 10 percent of the population lives in pastoral and semi-pastoral communities
that occupy 60 percent of the land (Kaluski et al 2002). These communities live in
agriculturally marginal lowlands that are prone to frequent drought and famine. On the other
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