Newspaper Page Text
November 30, 1984/The Maroon Tiger/Page 7B
Better Coordination Urged
In Ethiopian Relief Efforts
WASHINGTON — The head of
the U.S. foreign aid agency is
forecasting continued massive
food shortages in Ethiopia over
the coming year unless donor
countries do a better job of
coordinating their relief efforts.
M. Peter McPherson, ad
ministrator of the Agency for
International Development,
proposed recently a conference
of donor countries and the
Ethiopian government to ex
plore ways of overcoming
logistical problems in food dis
tribution.
McPherson told a news con
ference that 300,000 tons of food
.from outside donors have been
committed compared with a
need of 1 million tons during the
next 12 months.
At present, he said, Ethiopia
has the capacity to distribute
50,000 tons a month, about half
of what is required to meet the
needs of the estimated 7 million
drought victims in that country.
McPherson, who just returned
from a trip to Ethiopia, said
bottlenecks at ports and in-
adeuate land transport hinder
the arrival of food at camps
where Ethiopia’s drought victims
have been assembling.
He said many people depart
for the campus belatedly, arriv
ing "just in time for their
children to die." He added that
during his trip, he saw “hun
dreds of children looking like
shrunken little old men.”
The donor countries, he said,
need to agree on a logistical plan
"to determine who is going to do
what.”
Food deliveries are now being
carried out on an “ad hoc basis,”
he said, with some ships arriving
at overcrowded ports at the same
time, causing delays in food
distribution. In addition, he said,
trucks are in short supply and
many people in remote areas do
not have access to food
deliveries because of a lack of
roads.
The conference he is propos
ing should involve any country
which has been contributing
assistance to Ethiopia or is willing
to do so, McPherson said.
These would include, he said,
the United States, Canada, the
10-nation European Economic
Community, other European
countries, Austrialia, Japan, the
Soviet Union and other Soviet
bloc countries.
Last week, the Soviet Union
promised to send Ethiopia 300
trucks, which would double the
amount Ethiopia has earmarked
for food distribution.
McPherson, who has chided
the Soviets for emphasizing
military aid to Ethiopia over
humanitarian assistance, also
said it was a grave error for
Ethiopia’s Marxist government
to set up Soviet-style collective
farms.
Food For Work Scheme. By the end of March 1985, hundreds of laborers will have completed a
great earth embankment in Western Sylhet, which will protect 30,000 acres from early floods. Crops
will then be able to be grown on this previously fallow land.
The Project is part of a comprehensive rural development scheme involving about 200,000 in this
remote area. The project, which has been substantially funded by Oxfam, over the last two years, is
being run by the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) - a voluntary organization of
young Bangalis employing 120 field staff of whom more than half are university graduates from
Dacca and other Bangladesh universities. Photo by Nick Fogden
Developing Improved Pasture and Fodder Crops in Ceylon
In an effort to make Ceylon self-supporting in meat and dairy products which, until
some 5 years ago, were imported in large quantities, the Government embarked
on an animal husbandry scheme aimed at improving and increasing livestock herds
throughout the country. To support the increased numbers of cattle, research is being
carried out into methods of improving the quality of pasture and fodder crops and
expanding on existing varieties. The facilities of the Animal Husbandry Division of the
Department of Agriculture have been made available for the purpose and FAO, at the
Government’s request, is providing experts in this field. These, in turn, are training local
staff, thus ensuring future maintenance and development of improved pastures and
forage. Kikuya grass being carried off in bags for analysis and nutritive value tests.
Photo courtesy of United Nations - Wolff/JMcG