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

Table 3.3: National, urban and rural malnutrition indicators of children under 5-years 2000
Malnutrition indicator
Location
Stunted Wasted Underweight
National 56.8 9.6 45.0
Urban 44.5 6.1 33.7
Rural 57.9 9.9 46.7
Source: MOFED 2002; CSA & ORC Macro 2001.
lactating mothers, as did the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP) region. In
2000, both recorded that about 7 percent of the rural population was needy. Though the record
for Tigray was of a stable nutrition status, 34 percent of the rural population was needy. In
Somali, which is one of the pastoral regions, there were major outbreaks of bloody diarrhea
and malnutrition-related diseases with 42 percent of the rural population being in need. In
general, the analyses revealed that for some regions, short-term, targeted food aid could
compensate for the lack of available foods, whereas other regions would benefit more from
health and nutrition education or agricultural assistance.
According to the recent MDG report (MOFED, UN 2004), Ethiopia would have to
reduce poverty by a factor of about 4.5 percent per annum through 2015 to meet the
Millennium Development Goals. This translates in to a decline of poverty from its current
level of 44 percent to 22 percent by 2015. The minimum growth rate required to reduce
poverty by this amount is about 6 percent. Moreover, real GDP is targeted to grow by at least
7 percent on average during the MDG period. However, such expectations have to be checked
with past trends and realities. In 1990, the national poverty headcount was 48 percent. By
2000, ten years later, it had only dropped to 44 percent. However, the proportion of stunted
children has shown somewhat larger declines – in 1995, 67 percent and in 2000, 57 percent.
It is important to note that in Ethiopia poverty rates are computed on the basis of a
local poverty line, which is approximately Birr 1095 per person per year (Poverty Situation in
Ethiopia 1997). This is approximately Birr 3 (US$ 0.35 at the present exchange rate) per
person per day. If purchasing power party (PPP) is used to compute the dollar equivalent of
Birr 3, a figure closer to one dollar a day is attained, particularly in rural areas.
3.4.6. Marketing, trade and access to food
Poverty reduction and food security efforts should be underpinned by market driven
rural development. Ethiopia’s experience over the last decade shows that increased
productivity is a necessary but not sufficient condition for income augmentation at farm level.
Farmers must also be able to sell their products profitably. This is more pronounced in a
situation where most smallholder farmers are poor, food insecure, malnourished and more
vulnerable to the vagaries of external shocks.
The vast majority of rural travel (80-90 percent) on community roads is by foot
(MOFED 2005). The typical modal split for rural roads is for at least 60 percent of the trips to
be by pack animal and for up to 30 percent to be by bus. Trips by pick-ups and trucks
normally form a very small proportion of the total. Quantities transported are very small and
undertaken over poorly maintained roads or paths, leading to high transport costs. It is not
unusual for farmers to have to travel 30 or 40 km to take their produce to markets. Mules and
donkeys are the most common form of animal traction used for transporting goods.
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