期刊名称：Ethiopian e-Journal for Research and Innovation Foresight
电子版ISSN：2042-6356
出版年度：2012
卷号：4
期号：1
出版社：NES-Global
摘要：This special journal review paper presents papers, most of which were contributions to Research Symposia on International Development Issues that convened at Western Michigan University on August 16-18, 2001 and in Addis Ababa and in Ethiopia on July 11-12, 2003[i] respectively. The selected the papers deal with the various dimensions of famine and food insecurity in Ethiopia such as food crop production technology, marketing, land tenure and management, agro-forestry, vulnerability to impoverishment, rural poverty, environmental degradation, and policy options for improving market participation for small farmers and livestock producers, and rural vulnerability. The review is motivated with the aim of addressing the problem of recurrent famines and food insecurity that Ethiopia faces including the most recent famine in 2003. Among the questions that motivate the paper is why after more than a decade of World Bank/IMF market liberalization and structural adjustment, and agricultural-led Industrialization (ADLI) strategy, Ethiopia found itself in 2003 in a famine and food crisis equivalent to the Great Famine of 1984-85 famine? The selected papers also demonstrate that famine is a complex issue caused by various factors such as inadequate food production, marketing problems, land tenure, and natural resource degradation, and poverty, as well institutional and public policy or governance failures. While the relative contributions of these factors vary, we believe the role of the failure of institutions and public policies is most critical factor that drives the problems in case of Ethiopia and many other African states. The papers reviewed engage the various contributing factors to famine and poverty head on. In this summary review, our task is to briefly highlight the contributions of each authors listed in reference, and to provide synthesis that draw from the papers including our own perspectives on constructive policy options for combating poverty and famine in Ethiopia. In the review, we inject our interpretation of the issues including drawing policy implications from the papers reviewed. In this process, we take full responsibility for our views, which may or may not be shared by the individual contributing paper authors. We categorize the contributed papers into the following sections that capture sub-thematic dimensions of the Poverty and food insecurity/famine problem in Ethiopia: 1. Preface to Combating Famine and Rural Poverty ,2.The Context and the Problem of Poverty and Famine, 3.Food Production and Land Tenure Security, 4. Natural Resource Management Issues, 5. Agricultural Marketing Issues: Food Grain and Livestock, and 6. Institutions and Public Policies for Combating Poverty and Famine, 7.Conclusions and Reflections. Famine can be defined as “a catastrophic disruption of society as manifested in cumulative failure of food production, distribution, and consumption systems with three primary manifestations: 1. Extreme geographically concentrated shortfall in food consumption that result in chronic loss of body weight and a rise in excess mortality, 2.Massive social disruption, including community dislocation (increased distress migration and out-migration of entire families), and 3. Long term depletion of natural resources (soil, water, forests) including degradation of productive assets, of the natural resource base, and of human capital”[ii] (Webb and von Braun, Pages10-11). The review cover contributions to the various key dimensions and elements of famine such as failure in food production, distribution or marketing, and natural resource degradation, spatial distribution of food insecurity, soil conservation strategy, poverty, land tenure, and vulnerability issues. Our review start with Preface contributed by Distinguished Professor Agricultural Economics, Carl K, Eicher of Michigan State University. [i] All Chapter chapters except the Preface and the Introductory Chapter. The Chapters were contributions to International Symposiums on Development Studies (ICEDS) that convened on August 16-18, 2001 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA and July 11-12, 2003 at the Ghion Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The latter Symposium was co-sponsored by the Ethiopian American Foundation and the Institute of Development Research (IDR), Addis Ababa University, and Center of African Development Policy Research (CADPR), at Western Michigan University..
