Eritrea Emergency Response Presentation Trends And Challenges Regional Consultation Dar Es Salaam

Lutheran World FederationLutheran World FederationWorld Service World Service

Eritrea ProgramEritrea Program

Regional Consultation MeetingRegional Consultation MeetingTanzania Tanzania

June 8-12, 2009June 8-12, 2009

Presentation on Presentation on Emergency response - Trends and ChallengEmergency response - Trends and Challengeses

General Information about Eritrea Area: 124,000 Sq.km Location: East Africa Pop.: 3.6 million (est.) 65% live below the poverty line 80% are farmers relying on

agriculture GNI per capita is USD 190 Adult literacy

Female: 49%Male: 71%

Life expectancy 57 years Infant mortality 48 per 1000

live births HDI: 167/179

Lutheran World Federation/World Service - Eritrea Program

Most Common Disasters seen in Eritrea

• Drought

• War


Others:•Environmental degradation•Pest infestations

Drought

is considered as the main threat to Eritrea, climatic changes increase the frequency


Effects include:• water resources are

drying up in many of the drought-prone areas, people and livestock are vulnerable.

• There is high shortage of water in urban centres including the capital Asmara.

Widespread agricultural failure



Food Security in Eritrea

Eritrea can only produce about 60% of its cereal requirement at most.

The annual cereal requirement is about 659,000 Mt for about 3.6 million pop.

On average about 12-20% increase in production was registered every year since 2004.


Food Security in EritreaContd.

An estimated 598,000 hectares was cultivated for 2008/2009 season

The preliminary crop estimate for the 2008/2009 season is 30-35% of total cereal requirements

Taking the lower figure, total production of cereals this season is estimated at 200,000 metric tons

Shortfall for total cereal requirements is estimated at 400,000 metric tons which will have to be imported as commercial imports or food aid.


Failure of Bahri rains affecting most of the secondary crops which make up 20% of the country’s cereal needs

Below Average Azmera rains Late onset of Kremti rains and poor distribution, and

alternating dry spells during the cropping season. Lack of quality seed and fertilizers Damage by pests Weak draft animals affected by drought Lack of appropriate production techniques such as water

conservation and conservation agriculture

Key Constraints for Cereal Production

What do people say“We used to plow our land starting in March but now, unless it rains, the soil is too hard to plow. In the past, the seeds stayed in the soil until the rain started but now they die before the rain comes. We get less milk from our cows and goats because of the scarcity of fodder. We used to get wild fruits from the trees but now the few trees remaining do not bear fruit. Our parents and grandparents used to consume milk, butter, honey, different fruits and vegetables but not today.”

Quote from God, Creation and Climate Change

LWF – A communion of ChurchesGeneva, 2009



Year Wheat Wheat flour

Sorghum Barley Millet

Feb - 04 510 700 810 - 1,200

Feb - 05 567 1,000 825 - 1,000

Feb - 06 856 1,388 1,000 - 800

Feb - 07 1,350 1,500 900 700 1,050

Feb - 08 2,200 3,000 1,300 1,600 950

Asm Sept

2008

3000 3400 2000 5000 3000 6100

Masw Sept

2008

3500 N/A 2500 N/A 2500 N/A

Cereal price trends in ERN/100 kg (1USD = 15ERN)2004 - 2008


Commodity Prices

The prices of essential commodities, especially food, remain high despite global decrease in food prices.

Wheat prices have risen by 136% since February 2008. Wheat flour has risen by 113% since February 2008Barley prices have risen by about 321% since February 2008

Sorghum prices have risen by about 192% since February 2008


Income and Poverty Issues Food and housing accounts for the biggest proportion of

household expenditure

Food alone accounts for 50% of household expenditure and 42% of household incomes

Women-headed households who constituted 28% of the total sample population had an average family size of 3.9 and had an average income of ERN306 per month

The Human Development Report and FAO puts the number of people who are vulnerable at 75% of the population while the Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS) of 2003 puts this figure at 65%.

This translates to about 2.7 million people in good years and this number is likely to rise in drought years.


Acute malnutrition among under-five children is high, particularly in Gash Barka and Anseba regions which are above the WHO threshold of 15%.

The prevalence of total malnutrition is alarmingly high, and increase in prevalence has been observed. The highest observed are in Anseba (56%) and Maekel (70%).

Sharp increases in the admission rates in community based therapeutic feeding centers. Admission rates in February 2009 were two to six fold higher than in 2008.

UNICEF through the MoH is planning for blanket supplementary feeding nationwide for 334,000 under-five children , costs for 6 months USD 15 million. ( but …….)

Nutrition Issues


Movement of people to comparatively better area (from Anseba and Debub to Gash Barka)

Focus on improving food production through improved seed mainly maize and potatoes

Request for increased fertilizer use in irrigated lands Increasing the area under irrigation by building over 200

dams and diversions structures There will not be appeal for food aid Involvement of the army in harvesting and storage Sales of crops and livestock restricted to sales to the

government only and at the Gvt. fixed price…. Monthly food allocations through Kebele system

Government Response

Conflict• The border war with Ethiopia (1998-2000) caused heavy

economic and social losses and continues to be the most serious cause of food insecurity because : • Due to the “no war no peace” situation most of the able bodied

persons are engaged in the military

• Agricultural and industrial enterprises, small scale industries and social infrastructures and facilities including educational and health services were destroyed/damaged

• Displacement of about 1.1 million people from Gash Barka and Debub regions, which contribute some 70% of Eritrea’s total grain production and are host to about 47% of the total population were heavily affected by the war.

(at present except small numbers the majority of the IDPs have returned to their place of origin)


• Coordinating agency of ACT Eritrea Forum

• Active Member of the IASC group• Member in the Cluster Approach ( WASH, Food Security ) However the clusters are “ dormant” as the Government has not come out with Appeals

and hence the International Donor Community can not be involved in any responses to the situation.

LWF/WS-ER Program Contributions

Dam

Construction/Rehabilita

tion


Irrigation Development


Soil and W

ater

Conservation


School Construction /Rehabilitation


Provis

ion of

Clean D

rinkin

g Wat

er


Shelter Construction


Restocking


Distribution of

Donkey Drawn Carts


ChallengesChallenges

General

• policies of the government with regard to emergency assistance. Since 2006, – no food aid is allowed due to government policy of “self reliance” – not possible to carryout any kind of surveys– government is not issuing appeals– UN agencies facing difficulty in communicating with concerned

government bodies- Government not represented in IASC meetings and Clusters

– WFP has closed its operations. It has only a liaison office• no existing government structures and mechanisms dealing with

disaster risk management• low level of public awareness in disaster mitigation


In Responding to Emergencies

• Lack of access to information (UN and NGOs are not allowed to make assessments)

• Limited donor support for the efforts on relief

(ACT CO Geneva considers the Eritrean situation as “not emergency” and has stopped accepting our appeals)

• LWF is not always legible to apply for EU call for proposals

• Only two ACT member organizations remaining – NCA and LWF (CRS and Oxfam invited as observers)

• High expectation from the government and community



Thank You!Thank You!

Any questions?Any questions?

Eritrea Emergency Response Presentation Trends And Challenges Regional Consultation Dar Es Salaam

Travel

eritrea eritrea

eritrea area

food prices

cereal production

wheat prices

total cereal requirements

food aid

countrys cereal