Do forests and trees have a significant contribution to food security?
2004
Tesfai Mebrahtu (GTZ/Food Security Capacity Building Project, Addis Abeba (Ethiopia)))
About 4-6 million people suffer from chronic food insecurity every year in this country. The number of acutely food insecure population can rise up to 8 million as in the case of the present crisis. A concerted effort is needed from the government, donors, NGOs and civil society of extricate people from such dire food crisis. The federal as well as the regional governments have developed policies, strategies and programs to tackle the problems of food insecurity and poverty. Land degradation was cited as one of the major causes of food insecurity in the food security program documents of Amhara, Oromia, SNNPR and Tigray regions. The main reason for land degradation is the removal of trees and forests (deforestation) from landscapes. This deforestation is still continuing at an alarming rate and little effort is being made to replace the removal of trees. Trees and forests have direct and indirect benefits for farming households which contributes significantly to their food security situation. The roles of trees and forests towards the effort in improving food security will be reviewed with respect to the three aspects of food security; food availability, food access and use and utilization of food. Agro-forestry has been given due consideration in the food security and rural development strategies as well as the food security programs of the four regions. The other areas of forestry development and management are left for the regular intervention activities of the Ministry of Agriculture. Assuming that enough resources are allocated for agro-forestry, the practice of agro-forestry is faced with a major stumbling block. This stumbling block is the free animal grazing culture in most if not all parts of the country. This issue will be discussed in detail.
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