Food Aid and Small-holder Agriculture in Ethiopia: Options and Scenarios

Abstract

This paper explores different options and scenarios for the future of food aid in Ethiopia, especially its relation to smallholder agriculture. The paper asks: is food aid an appropriate solution to the complex, interacting factors causing chronic poverty or does it act to reinforce the problem? Or should food aid related interventions be reserved for particular drought-related emergencies, as part of drought cycle management? In sum: how in the context of the structurally food insecure setting of Ethiopia can food aid enhance the capacity of smallholder agriculture to provide sustainable livelihoods?