Eritrea Remains Food Secure
Eritrea Remains Food Secure - No food shortage or hunger reported
July 22, 2011 (ERITREA) – Independent reports coming from various parts of Eritrea reveal there are no food shortages or hunger taking place within Eritrea.
Over a dozen phone calls made to Eritrean citizens living within Tesseny, Keren, Mendefera, Assab, Asmara, Agordat, Barentu, and Massawa have all reported food prices are stable and no sign of food shortages have been witnessed.
Sources indicate at least 4.5 million Ethiopians, 3.5 million Kenyans, 2.5 million Somalis, and 120 thousand Djibouti citizens are in need of emergency food aid. The United Nations has recently called the Somali food crises a famine, as dozens of children are already reported to have died from lack of food.
Mitiku Kassa, Ethiopia's state minister of agriculture, revealed to AP news his country would need $400 million to cover the 40% increase of Ethiopians in dire need of food, a claim Jason Frasier, the director of the U.S. government aid mission in Ethiopia, believes is underestimated. It is to be recalled, a few weeks prior to Ethiopia's asking the international community to feed 4.5 million of its citizens, Ethiopia spent $100 million to purchase over 200 T-72 battle tanks from Ukraine.
Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Eritrea, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Tunisia and South Africa remain the only mainland African states that are not on food assistance, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).
How is Eritrea remaining food secure?
The Government of Eritrea (GoE) has given food security a top priority, particularly after the 2009 drought, when a substantial amount of money had been spent on creating a solid foundation to modernize Eritrea's farming industry. In Gash Barka region alone, official data shows, "67,754 hectares of land has been cultivated 35,500 hectares by irrigation, 20,980- splash irrigation 2,257 hectares uses spray irrigation and 1,100 hectares use drip irrigation." (July 1, 2011, Shabait). In addition, since independence, hundreds of small to medium sized micro-dams were constructed, giving farmers the ability to harvest plentiful crops, even during poor rainy seasons.
Ethiopian refugees entering Eritrea sharply on the rise
Information obtained from sources within Eritrea have stated around 650 Ethiopian refugees, almost twice the normal monthly average, have entered Eritrea as a result of Ethiopia's severe food insecurities, political repression and rapid inflation, where the Ethiopian Government's own estimates put it at 38.1%.
Following data shows the World Food Programme's list of African states who receive food aid.
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July 22, 2011 (ERITREA) – Independent reports coming from various parts of Eritrea reveal there are no food shortages or hunger taking place within Eritrea.
Over a dozen phone calls made to Eritrean citizens living within Tesseny, Keren, Mendefera, Assab, Asmara, Agordat, Barentu, and Massawa have all reported food prices are stable and no sign of food shortages have been witnessed.
Sources indicate at least 4.5 million Ethiopians, 3.5 million Kenyans, 2.5 million Somalis, and 120 thousand Djibouti citizens are in need of emergency food aid. The United Nations has recently called the Somali food crises a famine, as dozens of children are already reported to have died from lack of food.
Mitiku Kassa, Ethiopia's state minister of agriculture, revealed to AP news his country would need $400 million to cover the 40% increase of Ethiopians in dire need of food, a claim Jason Frasier, the director of the U.S. government aid mission in Ethiopia, believes is underestimated. It is to be recalled, a few weeks prior to Ethiopia's asking the international community to feed 4.5 million of its citizens, Ethiopia spent $100 million to purchase over 200 T-72 battle tanks from Ukraine.
Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Eritrea, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Tunisia and South Africa remain the only mainland African states that are not on food assistance, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).
How is Eritrea remaining food secure?
The Government of Eritrea (GoE) has given food security a top priority, particularly after the 2009 drought, when a substantial amount of money had been spent on creating a solid foundation to modernize Eritrea's farming industry. In Gash Barka region alone, official data shows, "67,754 hectares of land has been cultivated 35,500 hectares by irrigation, 20,980- splash irrigation 2,257 hectares uses spray irrigation and 1,100 hectares use drip irrigation." (July 1, 2011, Shabait). In addition, since independence, hundreds of small to medium sized micro-dams were constructed, giving farmers the ability to harvest plentiful crops, even during poor rainy seasons.
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| Eritrean Farmers using Compact Tractors |
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| Modernizing Eritrea's Farming Methods |
Ethiopian refugees entering Eritrea sharply on the rise
Information obtained from sources within Eritrea have stated around 650 Ethiopian refugees, almost twice the normal monthly average, have entered Eritrea as a result of Ethiopia's severe food insecurities, political repression and rapid inflation, where the Ethiopian Government's own estimates put it at 38.1%.
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| 14 recent arriving Ethiopian refugees of the Tigray ethnic group inside Eritrea |
Following data shows the World Food Programme's list of African states who receive food aid.
| African Nations | Food Assistance Cost | Number on Food Aid |
|---|---|---|
| 1| Algeria | $43,000,000 USD | Non-Algerian Refugees |
| 2| Benin | $18,166,432 USD | 513,852 People |
| 3| Burkina Faso | $22,201,427 USD | 650,500 People |
| 4| Burundi | $30,966,873 USD | 761,423 People |
| 5| Cameroon | $24,674,887 USD | 295,618 People |
| 6| C.A.R. | $44,416,087 USD | 633,104 People |
| 7| Chad | $217,576,497 USD | 1,958,825 People |
| 8| D.R.C. | $214,906,862 USD | 3,442,660 People |
| 9| Congo | $28,936,457 USD | 124,700 People |
| 10| Côte D'Ivoire | $51,822,338 USD | 915,500 People |
| 11| Djibouti | $14,638,808 USD | 121,955 People |
| 12| Egypt | $44,000,000 USD | 396,000 People |
| 13| Ethiopia | $533,853,248 USD | 6,926,596 People |
| 14| Ghana | $16,046,451 USD | 409,250 People |
| 15| Guinea | $17,984,699 USD | 505,504 People |
| 16| Guinea-Bissau | $9,427,207 USD | 382,500 People |
| 17| Kenya | $220,403,044 USD | 1,655,150 People |
| 18| Lesotho | $7,302,793 USD | 232,900 People |
| 19| Liberia | $48,416,346 USD | 788,700 People |
| 20| Libya | $42,000,000 USD | 187,000 People |
| 21| Madagascar | $26,537,168 USD | 851,000 People |
| 22| Malawi | $32,961,211 USD | 1,055,495 People |
| 23| Mali | $20,885,598 USD | 348,107 People |
| 24| Mauritania | $15,808,005 USD | 518,600 People |
| 25| Mozambique | $47,726,383 USD | 819,105 People |
| 26| Namibia | $1,055,260 USD | 6,000 People |
| 27| Niger | $131,009,937 USD | 2,706,325 People |
| 28| Rwanda | $42,707,633 USD | 517,000 People |
| 29| São Tomé & P. | $1,951,145 USD | 45,660 People |
| 30| Senegal | $28,122,449 USD | 1,487,000 People |
| 31| Sierra Leone | $24,986,882 | 469,257 People |
| 32| Somalia | $221,477,558 | 1,505,384 People |
| 33| South Sudan | NA | NA |
| 34| Sudan | $623,216,413 USD | 6,751,000 People |
| 35| Swaziland | $4,397,117 USD | 53,568 People |
| 36| Tanzania | $61,570,854 USD | 1,087,030 People |
| 37| Gambia | $5,004,698 USD | 177,215 People |
| 38| Togo | $2,605,839 USD | 9,500 People |
| 39| Uganda | $85,870,027 USD | 1,357,398 People |
| 40| Zambia | $21,823,771 USD | 613,663 People |
| 41| Zimbabwe | $136,474,800 USD | 1,550,000 People |
Eritrea Remains Food Secure
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