The trigger of Ethiopian famine and its impacts from 1950 to 1991

Abstract

Ethiopia is an ancient state that emerged in the Horn of Africa. The country has an abundance of natural resources, a rich history, cultures, languages, and diverse physical landscapes. Ethiopia’s socioeconomic and political characteristics were stable until the first half of the twentieth century. However, famine struck the country several times after the 1950s. This period is historically significant as the start of the monarchical regime’s mechanized farming scheme program, which was intended to increase food crop production for local consumption and cash crops for export. Following the land reform proclamation in 1975, the Derg also pursued the same goal, establishing large state farms throughout the country.Despite having numerous mechanized state farms, famine had repeatedly struck the nation. In order to identify the causes and effects of the famine in Ethiopia from 1950 to 1991, this paper has made an attempt. As a result, to maintain the validity and reliability of sources, a variety of relevant secondary reviews of the literature were consulted. The paper thus pinpoints a number of human and natural factors that led to the famine. Various social crises, population shifts, and economic crises occurred during the famine and post-famine periods.According to the paper, the causes of famine were strongly linked to the government’s policy failure to manage disaster risk management and its citizens’ social well-being. Consequently, Ethiopia’s post-1991 government demonstrated exemplary preparedness in dealing with the causes and effect of famine through disaster risk management policy revision and agricultural and economic development schemes.