Ethiopia Suffers Famine Despite Lush Vegetation

Ethiopia Suffers Famine Despite Lush Vegetation

Shebedino, Ethiopia — The number of malnourished children are rapidly increasing after an unusual drought that started from East Africa has reached the Southern part of Ethiopia which was normally a fertile and productive region. The Southern Somalia famine made headlines globally alarming the international community. However, little has been known about the recent and ongoing famine that plagues Southern Ethiopia.

250,000 people are on the brink of famine and food crisis according to the Ethiopian Government. But agricultural officials and aid organization in Ethiopia said that around 700,000 people are in dire need of food assistance due to widespread famine that is considered to be the worst in 60 years. If rains will never come again within this month, certainly no harvest is expected by next month, September, according to an unnamed official. Without food assistance, hungry people will definitely be starving and will be in big trouble.

A corn farmer expressed his concern about a big possibility that his upcoming yield for the month of September may not even produce desirable results. He even is expecting no yield at all. The farmer has recently been very disappointed when his previous corn crops were just given to cattle after being destroyed by heavy rains. He also added that crops exposed to too much sunshine and in hot season may not survive sudden heavy rains.

All in all, 12 million Africans need food assistance. Famine has also reached African countries of Djibouti and Kenya aside from Somalia and Ethiopia. Coordinated food assistance from the international community is already being communicated through the United Nations.

Posted by James Fried on Thursday August 18 2011, 2:18 AM EST. Ref: CNN. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0