Poverty and Hunger Issues in Nigeria and Ethiopia - Essay Example

?Your’s Teacher’s Poverty and hunger issues in Nigeria and Ethiopia Introduction: Significant element of economic and social justice is to provide the adequate food to all residents of a country. Nigeria and Ethiopia are two African countries with abundant human and natural resources if properly harnessed can provide access to all of their citizens and export the surplus in the world to other countries. However, both of two countries are facing the challenges of hunger and poverty and food intake by a majority of Ethiopian and Nigerian have fallen below the standard at the international level. Past efforts to enhance the food supply through the development in the agricultural production could not yield the fruitful results in the selected countries. Various agencies at local as well as national level are making efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger in the Nigeria and Ethiopia. Ethiopia Ethiopia is one the African country located at the north eastern part of the Africa. Ethiopia is the second largest country of Africa in the context of size about 91 million people after the Nigeria with 150 million people. Growth rate of the population in Ethiopia is 3.6% and shares borders with Kenya in the southern part. Land area of Ethiopia is about 1100,000 square kilometers. Although Ethiopia has abundant natural resources like gold, copper, potash, methane and platinum, but it is still the second poorest country of the world. In a new index of poverty, the 90% population of Ethiopia is below the poverty line due to poor governance, unequal distribution of funds, and corruption for a long time. These issues crippled the economy of Ethiopia and people were forced to die from extreme hunger and poverty. Unpredictable flooding and drought are main dangers for Ethiopian population. Most people in Ethiopia are poor subsistence farmers who rear animals and grow crops to support their families. BBC figured out that more than one million people lost their lives due to food insecurity since the 1980’s famine. Erratic rainfalls and drought cycles created a situation for a country to receive the 700000 metric tons of food. Nigeria Total population of Nigeria was 173.6 million with an area of 923,768 square Kilometers in 2013. More than 80% of people live in rural areas and practice the agriculture as a main source of supporting their families. Nigeria like Ethiopia has abundant natural resources of forest, oil and gas and water resources. In spite of these natural resources and fast increasing population, is the poorest country of the world. USAID reported that over 70% of Nigerian population was living below the poverty line (Ukpong, Ekpebu and Ofem). More than 40% children in Nigeria under the age of 5 years are stunted, and 25% are underweight. Every person in Nigeria has the basic right to food and state is obliged to protect and provide food to all of its citizens. However, this need has been not met by the Nigerian government. More than 65% people cannot access the food required for their activities to perform their daily work based activities. Excessive food price spikes and price volatility influence the major portion of Nigerian population (Celine). High population growth, ability to grow sustainable food sources Food insecurity in Nigeria is also caused by hunger and famine. Other than hunger and famine the food insecurity is also considered as the development of apathy for the local food products. Most of the Nigerians prefer to import the food products as they consider these imported products superior to those products produced locally. Emergence of the oil sector shifted the emphasis of people from agriculture to the extent that people did not focus on the requirements (Jacob). Rapid growth of the population in Ethiopia created the serious problems of urban and rural poverty. Fast population growth complicated the situation and made difficult to eradicate the extreme hunger and poverty in Ethiopia. Population of Ethiopia is expected to be doubled in a period of 30 years (Alene and Worku). Distribution of food across the population Distribution of food across the population in Ethiopia varied for the last decade. Food poverty index declined by the 9% from 2000 to 2005 while it declined by 12% from 2005 to 2011. Food poverty decline was seen more in the urban areas as 21% and 8% in rural areas between 2005 and 2011. Severity of food poverty was higher in rural areas as compared to urban areas of Ethiopia (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia). On the other hand, poor land distribution and unstable food production in households, weak disaster management system and lack of purchasing power contributed in the worse situation of food distribution resources in Nigeria (Abu). Income inequality and poor access to affordable food Another dimension of hunger and poverty in Nigeria is income inequality. Social factors including the ethnicity, geography, gender and age also influence the poverty and vulnerability. For example, equality in a low gender can reflect the human capital’s inequalities, economic participation and political representation between men and women. More than 60% Nigerian population below than 18 years and children are represented disproportionately. Maternal and Nigeria’s under 5 years mortality rates in the world are highest (Holmes, Akinrimisi, Morgan and Buck). While in urban centers of Ethiopia, gap between wealthy and poor is becoming more widened. This is particular for the Addis Ababa the capital city of Ethiopia with an estimated population of more than 4 million (Tolon). Strategies to Eradicate Hunger and Poverty in Ethiopia and Nigeria In Ethiopia, the Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) is helping the individual farmers, organizations, government and private sector partners to support the Ethiopian realization of the interconnected goals for the poverty reduction, food security, economic and human development. Agricultural growth program (AGP) is five years Growth and Transformation plan, which is run by the ATA and AGP. This program is focused on the three major areas including as data linkage, policy and strategy (Ethiopian ATA). Ethiopian government is largely focusing on the growth of staple crops, which accounts the agricultural value and smallholder employment. Under the AGP, the rapid growth of the livestock sector is positively impacting the economic growth of a country. Doubling the irrigation area till 2015 can give the desired results of the production of staple food (International Food Policy Research Institute). Introduction of the Poverty alleviation programs in Nigeria was not successful and Nigerian government came up with the new program as “National Poverty Eradication Program” in 2001. Instead of these programs, the rise in the poverty continued in Nigeria, which showed the ineffectiveness of these programs. Nigerian leaders need the creation of the enabling environment, which can impact the poor population of country. There are glaring constraints including the infrastructure inadequacies, corruption and others. In the Northern zone of Nigeria, poverty is still an endemic (David and Adekunle). Conclusion: Eradication of poverty and hunger needs the understanding to know the interconnection of these two injustices in Nigeria and Ethiopia. Unlike other commodities, food is the indispensible and significant factor for economic growth of Nigeria and Ethiopia. Policies of both governments could not give the desired results because of inconsistency in policies and other factors related with hunger and poverty. Rapid growth in population size, inequality in the income resources and unequal distribution of food across the two countries has still plagued the rural population of two countries. Poverty eradication strategies like AGP in Ethiopia and National Poverty Eradication Program (NPEP) in Nigeria are introduced in Ethiopia and Nigeria respectively. These policies could not yield the needed results. Work Cited: Abu, Orefie. “Food Security in Nigeria and South Africa: Policies and Challenges”, J Hum Ecol, 38(1): 31-35. (2012). Alene, Getu., and Worku, Alemayehu. “Examining Perceptions of Rapid Population Growth in North and South Gondar Zones, Northwest Ethiopia”, J Health Popul Nutr. 27(6): P.P.784–793. (2009). BBC. “Ethiopia strives to feed itself” (2005). Available from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4238904.stm Accessed on 14/11/2013. Celine, “Hunger in Nigeria: Calling for Strategic Focus of International Development Aids” (2012). Available from http://worldpulse.com/node/49460 Accessed on 14/11/13. David, Adejuwon., and Adekunle, Tijani. “Poverty Reduction and The Attainment Of The Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria: Problems And Prospects”, IJRSS, Vol.2 Issue.2. (2012). Ethiopian ATA, “Partners” (2013). Available from http://www.ata.gov.et/partners/ Accessed on 15/11/2013. Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, “Ethiopia’s Progress towards Eradicating Poverty: An Interim Report on Poverty Analysis Study (2010/11)” (2012). Available from http://www.mofed.gov.et/English/Resources/Documents/Interim%20Report%20on%202010-11%20Poverty%20Analysis.pdf Accessed on 15/11/2013. Holmes, Rebecca., Akinrimisi, Banke., Morgan, Jenny, and Buck, Rhiannon. “Social protection in Nigeria”, Overseas Development Institute. London. (2012). International Food Policy Research Institute. “Agriculture and achieving the Millennium Development Goals”, (2006). Available from http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/AgMDG.pdf Accessed on 15/11/2013. Jacob, Otaha. “Food insecurity in Nigeria: Way Forward”, An international multidisciplinary journal, Ethiopia, Vol. 7 (4). P.p. 26-35. (2013). Tolon, Uli. “ETHIOPIA AND ITS CAPITAL, ADDIS ABABA”, (2008). Comparison of Urban Upgrading Projects on Development Cooperation in Ethiopia. Available from http://upcommons.upc.edu/pfc/bitstream/2099.1/6374/8/07.pdf Accessed on 15/11/2013. Ukpong, I., Ekpebu, I., and Ofem, N. “Cointegration inferences on issues of poverty and population growth in Nigeria”, (2013). Journal of Development and Agricultural Economics. Vol. 5(7).pp.287-293. Read More