webmaster
© Copyright DEHAI-Eritrea OnLine, 1993-2011
All rights reserved
From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Sun Aug 21 2011 - 14:36:58 EDT
We should stop blaming nature for famine disaster
Posted Sunday, August 21 2011 at 14:13
Our policymakers must have cringed last week when the announcement came, but
the World Bank hit the nail on the head when it said that the famine
gripping the Horn of Africa region was man-made.
According to the bank’s lead economist, the famine is as a result of
artificially high prices for food and civil conflict in the region.
He insisted that droughts have hit the region many times yet as a result of
poor policymaking, the end result has always been famine
The current drought has affected millions of people in the region with
Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti being the hardest hit.
The bank blamed high cereals prices for contributing to the problem and
accused a small group in Kenya of controlling the market, thus keeping the
prices beyond the reach of the majority.
The World Bank said that maize prices in Kenya were between 60 and 70 per
cent higher than the world’s average.
This cartel-like behavior is unacceptable. How can a few reap millions of
shillings as millions of Kenyans go without food?
What annoys many is that our government officials are still dillydallying,
insisting that no one has starved to death yet what Kenyans see in the media
tells a different story.
As a result of high food and energy prices around the world, the
inflationary pressure has increased, exerted more pressure on millions
around the globe, especially the developing world.
Already parts of Kenya are experiencing heavy rainfall, but despite years of
being told to promote rain harvesting methods, the rain water is just being
allowed to go to waste. In the flood-prone areas, the same song is being
repeated. This only begs the question: when will our policymakers ever
learn?
What is so hard about ensuring that food deficit regions receive adequate
supplies from the bread basket regions of the country?
It really pains one to see farmers in one section of the country complaining
that they there is no market for their produce yet in another part of the
country scores of people are starving. It’s time the government walked the
talk.
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----