2. Food Aid 

Kalu Woreda has been receiving food aid since the famine of 1984*. Since  the EPRDF came to power, Kalu Woreda has received food aid every year. It is evident from the figures of the past five years (see appendix 1) that, although the years of 1997-2001 haven’t all been crisis years, a significant percentage of the population has received food aid. The woreda therefore falls into the category of chronically food insecure, as do many woredas  in Amhara Region. 

In 1997, a good year by all accounts, over 15 % of the Kalu population received food aid through the DPPC, in subsequent years this went up to over 37 % (in 1998) and over 42 % (of Meher dependant farmers alone in 1999) to an accumulative 84.6 % during last year’s crisis. From 1997 until 2000 Kalu’s population grew from 205,958 to 221,263 people, an increase of 6.9 %.  

In addition, WFP has provided extra food to Kalu during the same period, delivered through Food For Work (FFW) projects and Employment Generation Schemes (EGS). The project preparation and implementation is carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture, who also carry out the targeting of beneficiaries. A recent WFP survey of beneficiaries in the adjacent Woreda of Dessie Zuriya noted that “In some cases almost all the community members of a PA receive relief food aid.”