Population-Resource Imbalance and Resource Degradation

	Mt. Ambaricho, Kamabata's holiest mountain, is severely degraded due to overpopulation and lack of conservation measures.

At the outset, it seems logical to establish that the social and economic conditions which KDN aims to address in Kambata are not different from those prevailing in other parts of Ethiopia. What makes Kambata and other enset-growing regions unique is their demography. Kambata is one of the most densely populated and impoverished regions of the country. Its high man-land ratio has been documented in several studies. For example, a recent baseline survey revealed an average crude density of 277 persons/km², with agricultural densities exceeding 400 persons/km² in woredas (districts) such as Kacha Bira, Kedia Gamela, and Angacha. By comparison, in 1999, Ethiopia's national average density was estimated at 62.8 persons/km².

There is a strong conviction among planners, academics and the local population that the agricultural land in Kambata could not have supported such a large population density had enset not been a staple diet. However,the long-term sustainability of agricultural land is questionable as population pressure increases. The ecological balance between people and natural resources would be lost soon unless development programs that help maintaining the balance are not put in place immediately. In fact, KDN is much concerned that the current conditions in Kambata are signaling that the population-resource equilibrium has been badly affected. Environmental stress and degradation of natural resources, resulting from the ever-increasing rural population, have lowered the quality of life in the region to such an extent that the survival of the present and future generations is greatly threatened. The dire socio-economic crises the Kambatas face are inextricably linked to and exacerbated by an imbalance between population and land resource. The evidence shows that every corner of the land is inhabited, tilled for generations and, hence, severely degraded. No public land is left for preservation. Grazing and forestlands have vanished. Even the hillsides and mountains tops, including that of Mt. Ambaricho, Kambata's holiest mountain, are intensively farmed and badly degraded. Consequently, land productivity for cereal crops has been very low even with the use of fertilizers. The problem is compounded by the current land tenure system and the resulting land fragmentation that has reduced the farm size while discouraging long term investments in soil and water conservation, afforestation and terracing. The low land productivity has, in turn, resulted in meager farm income that could not support the rapidly growing population. The whole process has put the people in a vicious circle of poverty. Despite its green enset landscape, Kambata's future is grim indeed. Unless measures are taken to reverse the situation, without much exaggeration, it could be stated that the region will become a living example of the so called the "green famine."

High Rate of Youth Unemployment and
Lack of Off-Farm Employment

	The Kambatas work hard for survival but land is not available for everyone to till.

In the meantime, field reports suggest that youth unemployment is rampant and rural poverty is pervasive in Kambata due to scarcity of farmland. Thousands of destitute young farmers have no farm plot, a basis of livelihood, and could not support their families. Most live on incomes less than $0.50 per day. Some have lost their traditional coping strategies including the well-known seasonal migration to other regions in search of farm jobs. The government's policy of ethnic-based regionalization has restricted inter-regional movement of labor, thereby limiting the rural exodus exclusively to one' home region. Current estimates suggest that more than half of the young farmers are either unemployed or underemployed. This is unacceptably high even by the third world standard. It is paradoxical to see Kambatas, one of Ethiopia's most dynamic, industrious, and leading agriculturalists, stricken by mass poverty.

Decline in Standard of Living

	Feed for draught oxen is scarce--land is plowed with the same old farming technique.

Another factor contributing to extreme rural poverty and deteriorating youth unemployment in Kambata is lack of alternative or off-farm employment opportunities. Massive public works programs are rare and cottage industries are non-existent. Population pressure and farming that takes place in all corners have resulted in serious deforestation and acute shortage of grazing land. Consequently, the local population faces severe shortage of house construction materials, especially, timber and thatched-roof grass. The number of livestock that supports the farming population as a source of draught oxen and dairy has shrunk. The emerging overall picture then is a sharp decline in the standard of living of the Kambatas. In fact, recent anthropmetric findings showed more than half of the region's children and women are undernourished. KDN is concerned that without nutrition interventions most of the undernourished will be exposed to the dangers of diseases and death.

	Resource degradation and overpopulatin means thatched-roof grass is rarely available to cover this house.

To improve the standard of living, government, NGO, religious organizations have undertaken various development programs (resettlement, health services, water, education, soil conservation, road construction, etc.) in the region. However, the conservation and development programs undertaken so far are uncoordinated, untenable, unsustainable, insufficient, and ineffective to avert the increasing trend of resource degradation, unemployment and mass poverty. In some localities, dry-weather roads constructed without prior environmental impact assessment have accelerated soil erosion, creating big gullies along the roads. After a few years, neither the road nor the land is usable for transportation or farming. Paradoxically, inappropriate use of pesticides and deforestation have contributed to the extermination of bees that used to supply honey to the local population living in various districts.KDN asserts that protecting the natural resources and environmental rehabilitation is an integral part of improving the living conditions of the people. It believes that a sustainable development program, especially investment on environment including reforestation, restorative terracing, construction of soil and stone-bunds on hillsides is needed to rehabilitate the environment.

Decline in Quality of Education & Massive School Dropouts

As a coping strategy for land scarcity and unemployment, the Kambatas have traditionally opted for sending their children to schools, even under very difficult conditions. In fact, schooling in Kambata has served as means to deflate population pressure on farming. To a certain extent, it helped minimizing scramble for scarce farmland by the young as the educated ones sought for non-farming employment elsewhere or migrated to settle outside the region.

However, in the absence of functional literacy campaign, the adult illiteracy rate is alarmingly very high, the quality of education has deteriorated, and the number of school dropouts has quadrupled. Both private and public elementary and secondary schools in the region are in bad shape.

A typical Secondary School in Kambata is currently in bad shape.

A typical Kambata school lacks proper filing for students records.

A typical classroom doesn't have sufficients seats for the many students.

In specific terms:

Lack of Physical Infrastructure

Despite the fact the local people pay taxes regularly, infrastructure development is at its rudimentary stage and does not match with the number of people needing the services. The length of both dry-and all-weather roads was less than about 200 km, suggesting that most people in the region have no access to road transport. Lack of bridges (wooden, concrete, or steel) on major perennial and intermittent streams hampers communication and transportation of goods during rainy season. Telecommunication and power services are underdeveloped and limited to certain localities. A more serious problem in this densely populated region is shortage of water sources in dry season and limited access to potable water supply. Kambata women spend a considerable amount of their productive time in search of water. Currently, a negligible proportion of the total population has access to potable water. The bulk of population uses dirty and polluted water that causes water-borne diseases.

Besides performing household chores, Kambata women engage themselves in various productive activities. they help men in farming, raise poultry, trade in local markets, and make local basketry, mats and pottery to earn cash for the family. However, such endeavors are often hampered by lack of micro-credits as well as scarcity of raw materials locally. KDN asserts that provision of micor-credits to rural women would help alleviate poverty and would empower rural women.

	Potters are the driving force of Kambata society but they are socially discrminated.

Another important role of Kambata women is food processing, particularly preparation of Kocho (enset food). Traditionally, enset decortication is performed only by women. It is a back-breaking job even for young women. To date, enset processing technology has not developed yet and the tools used for decorticating enset are primitive and ineffective, increasing the drudgery faced by rural women. To make the matter worse, the availability of wooden tools is limited with increasing deforestation. KDN asserts that improving the traditional enset processing techniques would reduce the burden from all wormen in enset growing regions of Ethiopia.

 

 

 

	Enset decorticating tools are rudimentary and ineffective, increasing the drudgery of rural women.

Prevalence of Communicable Diseases & Lack of Health Services

The availability and quality of health service is not encouraging. According to a recent baseline survey, the health coverage of the KAT Zone is inadequate due to lack of health facilities as well as health professionals. Currently, there is no a single hospital within the KAT jurisdiction to treat patients with serious illnesses. In 1999, only six doctors were serving nearly one million people. The available health care facilities are ill equipped, unevenly distributed, uncoordinated, insufficient and biased towards curative rather than preventive services.

The major identified diseases of the zone are malaria, intestinal parasite, tuberculosis, typhus, and respiratory infections. Most of these are communicable and affect mostly the poorest section of the poor. So far, there isn't much reported case of HIV infections or deaths due to AIDS. This could be due to lack of HIV testing and/or under-reporting. No doubt that the magnitude of health crisis has doubled recently with the spread of malaria and HIV/AIDS throughout the country. Nationally, it is estimated that 3.5 million people are infected with the HIV virus and a million children have been orphaned.

The congested living conditions resulting from high population density in Kambata have accelerated the spread of communicable diseases such as typhus and tuberculosis. Evidently, a considerable proportion of the patients visiting the Addis Ababa tuberculosis treatment clinic and in-patient hospital come from the Kambata region. Lack of immunization services and proper hygiene, combined with a high adult illiteracy rate have aggravated the prevalence of diseases and lowered the health status of the population.

KDN asserts that the spread of communicable diseases can be mitigated by providing immunization, health education, health services, and better housing conditions.

Acknowledgements: KDN is thankful to Kembatti Mentii Gezzima-Tope (Kembatta Women's Center - Ethiopia) for providing the baseline survey information that is used in the preparation of this web site.