"Overcoming agricultural and food crises in Ethiopia is a sobering presentation of the crises of smallholder agriculture, food and nutrition, the environment and the impending threats to the survival and well-being of millions of Ethiopians and the nation. The combination of the obsolete systems on the one hand, with a growing young population, sustained decline of agricultural land per capita, unstructured urbanization and absence of rural industrialization on the other, presents a grim prospect for the contemporary Ethiopian state builders. The book seeks to call on political leaders, policymakers, scholars, business people, religious and moral authorities, farmers, and the general public to urgently mobilize bold vision and action to redress the crises."--back of book.

The perception of Ethiopia projected in the media is often one of chronic poverty and hunger, but this bleak assessment does not accurately reflect most of the country today. Ethiopia encompasses a wide variety of agroecologies and peoples. Its agriculture sector, economy, and food security status are equally complex. In fact, since 2001 the per capita income in certain rural areas has risen by more than 50 percent, and crop yields and availability have also increased. Higher investments in roads and mobile phone technology have led to improved infrastructure and thereby greater access to markets, commodities, services, and information. In Food and Agriculture in Ethiopia: Progress and Policy Challenges, Paul Dorosh and Shahidur Rashid, along with other experts, tell the story of Ethiopia's political, economic, and agricultural transformation. The book is designed to provide empirical evidence to shed light on the complexities of agricultural and food policy in today's Ethiopia, highlight major policies and interventions of the past decade, and provide insights into building resilience to natural disasters and food crises. It examines the key issues, constraints, and opportunities that are likely to shape a food-secure future in Ethiopia, focusing on land quality, crop production, adoption of high-quality seed and fertilizer, and household income. Students, researchers, policy analysts, and decisionmakers will find this book a useful overview of Ethiopia's political, economic, and agricultural transformation as well as a resource for major food policy issues in Ethiopia. Contributors: Dawit Alemu, Guush Berhane, Jordan Chamberlin, Sarah Coll-Black, Paul Dorosh, Berhanu Gebremedhin, Sinafikeh Asrat Gemessa, Daniel O. Gilligan, John Graham, Kibrom Tafere Hirfrfot, John Hoddinott, Adam Kennedy, Neha Kumar, Mehrab Malek, Linden McBride, Dawit Kelemework Mekonnen, Asfaw Negassa, Shahidur Rashid, Emily Schmidt, David Spielman, Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse, Seneshaw Tamiru, James Thurlow, William Wiseman.

Overcoming Agricultural and Food Crises in Ethiopia is a sobering presentation of the crises of smallholder agriculture, food and nutrition, the environment and the impending threats to the survival and well-being of millions of Ethiopians and the nation. The combination of the obsolete systems on the one hand, with a growing young population, sustained decline of agricultural land per capita, unstructured urbanization and absence of rural industrialization on the other, presents a grim prospect for the contemporary Ethiopian state builders. The book seeks to call on political leaders, policymakers, scholars, business people, religious and moral authorities, farmers, and the general public to urgently mobilize bold vision and action to redress the crises.About the AuthorGetachew Diriba was born and raised in rural Ethiopia like most of his contemporaries. He graduated from Haramaya College of Agriculture, attended a post-graduate program at the University of Dortmund, Germany, and obtained a Doctoral degree in agricultural economics from the School of Development Studies of the University of East Anglia, the United Kingdom.He worked as extension program officer and Project Manager of the Kobo Alamata Agricultural Development Project in Northeastern Ethiopia; Program Manager for CARE Ethiopia; Regional Adviser for Southern and Eastern Africa for CARE International. He also worked for the United Nations World Food Program in Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping for the Southern, the Great Lakes, and the Central Africa Regions; Head of Program in the Republic of the Sudan, Regional Program Adviser for the Middle East and Central Europe, Director of the Partnerships and Capacity Development Service at Headquarters, Country Director and Representative in the Republic of Liberia, and Country Director and Representative in the People's Republic of China, in which he established the China Center of Excellence for WFP. He retired from WFP in early 2017.

Concepts and research approach; A record of drought and famine in Ethiopia; Household responses to drought and famine; Agricultural constraints: conflict, policy, and drought; Prices and markets during famine; Public intervention during famine.

Aims to correct the widely held but questionable view that the Ethiopian famine was and is an inevitable consequence of environmental, social and cultural factors. The book is based on extensive original field research in Ethiopia, involving detailed surveys of over 500 families.

"This book, which examines Ethiopia's food security strategy and the safety net program from different approaches and perspectives in the context of the development of a social protection policy, is a continuation of that tradition ... Ethiopia's safety net program is one of the largest and most influential social protection schemes in Africa and, as noted by several authors in this volume, provides important lessons beyond the Ethiopian context."--Back cover.