Ethiopia Fact

Climatic variabilities among others have caused frequent drought and famine that have ravaged the people of Ethiopia for generations.

It is a paradox that this country is on the “world hunger list”. However, the maps on hail, frost, rainfall patterns and variability reveal the vagaries of nature that intermittently cause disruption to normal life.

The graph showing rainfall patterns in different zones, shows the frequent variations of rainfall from the mean.

Hardly a year passes when farmers in some parts of the country do not suffer from either too little, or too much rainfall. Even when the amount is normal, they suffer when it comes too early or too late.

Agriculture is also adversely affected, from time to time, by frost and hail. The two maps on the left show those parts of the country which are frequently affected by these climatic adversities.

Frost occurs for a very short duration usually in the early morning just before sunrise. The lowest temperature of the day is recorded at this time, when the stored heat from the sun is lost through radiation.

Frost occurs at high altitudes where the atmosphere is thin and radiation faster. It is a very serious hazard to crops between October and February, but, due to the absence of any quantification of the damage done, our understanding remains inadequate and largely conjectural.

Temperature inversion at the base of escarpments and on deep gorges is also a factor in frost occurrence.

The third map on the right shows the coefficient of rainfall variability. By comparing this map with the map of mean annual rainfall, the high but inverse correlation between annual amount and variability of rainfall can be seen.

The higher the annual rainfall, the lower the coefficient of variability, or conversely, the lower the annual rainfall the higher the coefficient of variability.

Variability or unreliability of rainfall is very high in the areas of low rainfall; the drier lowlands of the country.

The regions of abundant rain are more secure. The precarious existence of the people in the drier semi-arid lands is frequently made worse by adverse climatic changes.

Thus a substantial decrease of the rains from the mean, say up to 30%, does little damage in the wet regions, whereas a slight variation of about 5% causes catastrophic famine in drier areas. The gradual encroachment of the menace is traced from these drier areas towards the wet regions.

From the graph showing rainfall patterns over 25 years, 1961-1975 E.C. (1969-1983), the years with annual rainfall much below the mean can be noted. Immediately after the failure of these rains, disastrous famines followed.

The Tigray famine of 1950 E.C. (1958) (not included in the graph). The Wag-Lasta famine of 1958 E.C. (1966), the Welo famine of 1965 E.C. (1973) and the latest famine of 1977 E.C. (1984/85), that covered the whole country except seven Awrajas, are significant examples.

(Source: National Atlas of Ethiopia)

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