Attaining food security with integrated approach to agricultural development

Food insecurity problem in Ethiopia has become almost a regular feature in recent years and this year it is at its worse. The estimates over the last decade indicate that on an average annually around 4-5 million people regularly need external food assistance which amounts to about one million tons of additional food to bridge the gap between domestic supply and the demand which keeps growing every year. Unfortunately this has been happening in spite of various efforts being made to improve food production. Presently we are producing annually about 10-12 million tons of food from as many hectares of land under cultivation and to make the country self sufficient in food we would need to produce extra one million tons for the present. Although we have been blaming insufficient rains for limiting the production potential of out lands which is true to some extent but the problem appears to more complex and it is directly related to the poor health and inefficient management of the basic components of agricultural development. As far as agricultural development is concerned the three most important components are the soil, the water and the farmer. Unfortunately we have not been using and managing these components responsibly and efficiently. As a result they have lost their capability to contribute towards improved food production. Most of the productive lands in the Highlands have been affected by soil erosion, diminishing their capacity to provide effective depth, plant nutrients and water essential for plant growth. In absence of effective water conservation and harvesting measures, most rain water is lost as runoff and the farmer who is our bread winner still remains the most neglected, least respected and least supported member of our society. With all our efforts to improve agricultural production we have reached only thus far and this is not enough and we have to do more than and better than this. The average small farm in Ethiopia is a complex integrated agricultural system and the present approach has not been effective in improving the capacity of this system. Therefore, in order to build food security we must improve the efficiency of the soil, the water and the farmer by providing necessary support and this would be possible by following at integrated holistic multidisciplinary and participatory approach in a coordinated manner. This integrated approach when it is followed in the form of an integrated watershed development approach brings about an overall improvement in the ecosystem with definite improvement in agricultural production and income on the individual farms. An integrated watershed development approach includes a holistic multidisciplinary coordinated approach based on the socio economic problems of the community, where the community is an active partner at all the stages of decision making and planning. The community is also responsible for implementing the programme where the Government plays the role of a facilitator with all necessary support it should be realized that there are no short cuts and magical solutions in agricultural development and only a well planned long term strategy would take us on the road of achieving self sufficiency in food production.