Ethiopia`s development from famine to economic growth

The classic theory of modernization has its origins in the 1950`s, a post-war period which challenged strategists to investigate the problems faced by the underdeveloped countries, in their attempt to provide aid programs and technological assistance and promote long-term economic growth and political stability. Typical traditional societies were analyzed in the processes through which they should develop into modern social structures by following an unidirectional path similar to the ones already tested by the Western societies. Several factors that contribute to the development of a modern society (including technological, economic, social, political, military and cultural innovations) were illustrated in many studies of this theory. The complexity of outcomes was generally overlooked, making necessary more than just the classic theory for a proper analysis of a country`s modernization. Thus, the Harvard Project, the most relevant study on the social and cultural aspects of development, emphasized that an ideal model can`t be defined, as the modern personality corresponds more to a desirable plan of modern society than to the contradictory nature of modern reality. Therefore, I will further seek to determine Ethiopia`s (one of the countries severely affected by famine for the last years) development in its process of modernization.
Ethiopia has been plagued by famine going back to the 16th century. While climatic conditions resulting in drought are widely blamed, many believe the famine was caused, in large part, by government policies. The first duty of any government is the safety and wellbeing of its citizens. Much more should and could have been done to safeguard the people of Ethiopia against the risk of low yields and resulting food poverty. In his detailed report for Africa Watch, Evil Days: Thirty Years of War and Famine in Ethiopia, Alex De Waal, the Associate Director of Africa Watch, makes clear that “one consequence of the government’s military policies, particularly during the early 1980s, was famine”. The minimum duty of a human rights organization to the hundreds of thousands of victims of war and famine is to document their condition, so that they are not forgotten by history. In order to understand the problems facing the peoples of Ethiopia at the present time, it is necessary to understand the horrors they have suffered.
The key factor explaining the famine (many of which are similarly taking place today, such as selling off land to international corporations for industrial farming) was the counter-insurgency strategy adopted by the government. The repeated famines that have struck Ethiopia, and in particular the great famine of 1983-1985, were in large part created by disturbing government policies. Not only that war created famine, but those particular strategies which the government adopted in order to fight the wars led to a particularly severe form of famine.
Although the most crucial wars in Ethiopia are finally over, there are yet a number of reasons for raising awareness towards the past regarding the government`s approach. The main traits describing this unjust form of extensive violence against civilians by the Ethiopian army and air force was the use of exemplary terror, including rebel forces to fight against insurgents; the systematic restriction of food supplies by cutting key roads or by bombing market places and transport links, involving both ground forces and aerial bombardment, thus resulted in controlling and forced relocation of much of the rural population.
This combination of strategies is familiar for many insurgencies around the world. The Ethiopian case stands out as particularly detrimental because of the extraordinarily prolonged level of sustained violence, constant lack of any compensatory assistance to the relocated and restricted population. The frangible rural economy and the dependence of civilians on mobility and the range of economic activities was a damaging, considerable contributor to famine. Repeated military offensives destroyed the crops, leading to rural unemployment.
The Ethiopian government brought up issues by supporting several insurgent groups in Sudan and Somalia which were committing human rights abuses. Simultaneously, a set of restrictions placed upon a group of rural people in government-controlled areas including punitive taxation, forced labor on government projects and state farms, bans on labor, migration and trade, led to poor people being constrained to sell their reserves of food to meet these demands, demands that were often backed up by sanctions such as imprisonment. These policies resulted in large sections of the population being brought to the brink of famine.
Back in 1984 - 1985, the devastating famine killed around 400,000 people. Most of these deaths can be attributed not only to the rough weather, but also to the government`s excessive violation of human rights.
Rural trade was threatened by the Mengistu government bombing the market places. In spite of the government having access to only a minority of the famine-stricken population in the north, the great majority of relief was channeled through the government side.
Assistance
The recent famines in Ethiopia, Southern Africa and Niger have propelled the issue of famine back into the public arena for the first time since 1984. Once again, famine is becoming a priority not only for developing countries but also for the international community. (Devereux, 2007)
Nowadays, 34 million Ethiopians, nearly 40 percent of the population, are considered chronically hungry. Every single year an estimated 10-15 million depend on food aid for their survival. In 2010, Ethiopia was the world`s largest recipient of food aid, nearly $1.2 billion worth aid having been allocated. The governments of Britain, the USA and the European Union states, who collectively give over half of Ethiopia’s annual federal budget in various aid packages, must ensure that the Ethiopian government, whoever it may be, puts in place visionary plans to mitigate the impact of any future drought, which, with climate change a fact for us all, will undoubtedly take place.
Seasonal drought is the main cause of Ethiopia`s food insecurity, the country being faced with chronic levels of malnutrition. The high food commodities prices have been a major threat to food security in recent years.
The conflict in South Sudan is also exacerbating the food insecurity situation, the outbreak of violence in South Sudan in mid-December 2013 pointing out that hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese refugees have fled to Ethiopia and are now living alongside local communities. Currently, there are more than 3 million refugees in Africa, 12.5 million internally displaced people and another 700,000 stateless people according to UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Sharing borders with Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Eritrea which are dealing with conflicts, Ethiopia has been hosting refugees since the 1990`s.
The famine brought Ethiopia to world attention. Over the years, NGOs, IGOs and governments have increased their skills in acknowledging the warning signs of drought and famine, coping mechanisms have been established, thus mobilizing considerable food and development aid.
Funding to support refugees in Ethiopia remains a challenge. In spite of the assistance from donors, the refugees continue to struggle with local resources such as water, food, as well as educational and health facilities. In order to ensure that refugees and locals live peacefully together, the UN refugee agency has various projects in host communities. Thus, the refugees are involved in multiple livelihood activities, including small-scale animal and agricultural programs. Refugees with skills also serve as teachers, nurses, interpreters or social workers with various organizations within the campus.
Economic development and entrepreneurship
The economy of Ethiopia is based on agriculture, which accounts for 46.3% of gross domestic product, 60% of exports, and 80% of total employment. Ethiopia`s agriculture is plagued by periodic drought, soil degradation, high population density, poor infrastructure, thus making it difficult and expensive to get goods to market. (Wikipedia, Agriculture in Ethiopia)
Ethiopia offers a wide range of products such as coffee (more than 90% of the nation`s harvested coffee is organically produced, the superior quality of Ethiopian highland Arabica coffee being unmatched in flavor and aroma), highland sheepskin (which has gained international reputation for making gloves, well-known for their quality and natural characteristics), finished leather products (foot wear, bags, other leather articles), tea, fruits, vegetables and flowers, oil seeds, pulses (known for their flavor and nutritional value).
In 1992, the Ethiopian government formulated a long-term economic development strategy Agriculture-Led-Industrialization in cooperation with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) based primarily on the contribution of the private sector, the leadership role of the government and the integrated and coordinated participation of the public at large in nurturing and implementing it. According to 2014 IMF data, Ethiopia’s state led development strategy has so far generated valuable results in terms of economic growth and improving social indicators, in spite of the fact that the structural transformation towards manufacturing and export oriented activities has not materialized yet.
Every process of modernization requires innovation. Different phases of development can be grouped into three broad stages: a factor-driven stage; an efficiency-driven stage; and an innovation-driven stage (Porter, Sachs, and McArthur, 2002). Ethiopia is currently in the factor-driven development stage, a stage in which production factors play a leading role and production is more intensive in un-skilled labor and natural resources. Next, in the efficiency-driven stage, production becomes more efficient and movement towards technology frontier starts. Entrepreneurship’s role increases markedly in this second stage. In the innovation-driven stage, the focus shifts to knowledge which plays the leading role. This stage is biased towards the production of high value-added and innovative goods to expand the technological frontier. In this stage, entrepreneurial activity is particularly crucial, playing a more important role at an increasing rate, but levels off as economies become fully developed.
Ethiopia`s development strategy is adapting policies to provide greater scope for the private sector, especially entrepreneurship, which is essential along with the heavy investment in capital and labor. Entrepreneurial innovation could lead to reallocation of resources from the traditional or agricultural sector to the modern, especially manufacturing sector (Gries and Naudé, 2010). Unlike in the past where industrial policy was either focused on creation and growth of state-owned enterprises, there is a need now for industrial policy to be a nuanced partnership between entrepreneurs and the state (Acs and Naudé, 2013).Young Ethiopians who want to become entrepreneurs are therefore encouraged to organize themselves in groups in order to access microfinance. The Ethiopian government is supporting young people to start small businesses in order to reduce the rate of youth unemployment, officially estimated at more than 50%. They are then trained by the state-run Federal Micro and Small Enterprises Development Agency in business start-up and management skills. The agency also gives financial support to youth starting small and medium-size enterprises in areas such as textiles, leather, agriculture, trading, wood and steel (Sisay, 2013, p. 8).

Education
Ethiopia has made significant progress at all levels of the education system. This progress includes increases in the number of trained teachers in schools and institutions. Ethiopia joined the Global Partnership for Education in 2004. The Education Sector Development Programme IV covers the period 2010 - 2015. The ESDP IV focuses on improving access to quality basic education and sustaining equitable access to quality secondary education services through developing a higher quality of teaching and learning, achieving universal primary education by 2015 and universal secondary education by 2020; creating a competent, motivated, adaptable, and innovative workforce, developing highly qualified higher education and relevant professional mix in order to increase student learning, personal growth, and employability.
To further the country’s progress, the Ethiopian Government has committed itself to a five-year Growth and Transformation Plan which includes sustainably improving rural livelihoods and national food security. U.S. assistance capitalizes on a partnership with the government to increase economic growth with resiliency, deliver quality basic public health and education services and promote a governance environment that is conducive for sustainable economic development. Despite that, Ethiopia remains one of the ten poorest countries in the world, with an estimated annual per capita income of $470 in 2013 (World Bank).
To conclude, in Ethiopia a lot of improvement has been made, economic growth being observed and much appreciated, as over the last decade Ethiopia has made tremendous development gains in education, health and food security in its transformation process from a Third World country to a modern developing country.

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