SIMADA, ETHIOPIA – What would the threat of famine really be like? And what about famine itself? You have seen the images. The distended bellies. Emaciated children. The flies. What is behind that face? A country in conflict, ensuing droughts, rising grain prices, a milieu of complexity with the loss of lives the tragedy. In a world that produces more than enough food to adequately provide for all seven billion of us, the child in that picture should never suffer like that. He should be healthy and he should be smiling.

Something inside of us revolts at that image.

But it’s representative of something real. In 1984, the famine in Ethiopia killed over one million people. Could that level of disaster happen again?
Today Ethiopia again faces the threat of famine. The combination of drought and rising food prices has left 2.2 million Ethiopians struggling to survive without adequate food, health and nutrition. In 2006, almost half of Ethiopia’s population was malnourished, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

In a country where over 80 percent of people live off the land and agriculture drives the economy – accounting for half of all domestic production – a drought could be disastrous. And there is currently not enough rain. Ethiopia could be facing hunger again on a mass scale.
FH wants to reduce this threat. Through improving agricultural production by introducing new techniques, encouraging quality natural resource management, educating about hygiene and sanitation, and providing clean water, the threat of hunger will decrease.

Simply by teaching better farming practices, people’s harvests can drastically improve. One FH training involves education about compost and the impact of organic fertilizer. The result has been more crops, which equals more food, and hopefully, the eradication of hunger.
In Simada, one of five FH target districts, mountains are rugged and deforestation is severe. FH is working to reduce hunger at the family and community level. Emergency food aid is delivered to severely vulnerable families to bridge the annual food gap, and simultaneously agricultural production is enhanced through trainings and the linking of farmers to markets.

Again, more crops, more food, less hunger. This couple is part of the program in Simada. Their harvest speaks for itself.