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Rural poverty in Eritrea

Since it won independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year war of liberation, Eritrea has had to cope with the socio-economic problems of a small, desperately poor country. Its economy, like that of many African nations, is largely based on subsistence agriculture, and 60 per cent of the population relies for food and income on agricultural activities such as crop and livestock production or fishing.

Located in the Horn of Africa, on the Red Sea, the African continent's youngest independent country is also one of the poorest in the world, with an annual per capita income of US$150 in 2003 and a Human Development Index ranking of 155 out of 175 countries.

Poverty and food insecurity are widespread and are on the increase. Even in years with adequate rainfall, about half of the food that the country requires has to be imported.

Who are Eritrea's rural poor people and where are they?

Four years of extreme drought and the continuation of a no-war/ no-peace situation with neighbouring Ethiopia have heightened chronic humanitarian risk in Eritrea .

In the decade between 1990 and 2001, 53 per cent of the country's households fell below the poverty line, and 44 per cent of children under the age of five were underweight.

A large segment of Eritrea 's population, totalling as many as 2 million people, faces economic hardship. Rural households are the most severely affected by poverty because of the low productivity of their crops and livestock enterprises. Almost two thirds of all households lack food security.

The simmering border dispute with Ethiopia has intensified poverty, especially in border locations such as the Gash Barka region, where IFAD invests in efforts to improve agricultural and livestock productivity. Throughout the country, more than 1 million people, mainly farmers, have been displaced and have lost their few assets, including livestock. In 2006, more than 60,000 displaced people were still living in temporary camps, while large tracts of fertile land and pasture remain inaccessible because they are studded with an estimated 60,000 unexploded landmines.

Why are they poor?

The 2002-2004 droughts, by far the worst in many years, threatened the very existence of more than one third of the population. Crop production fell to about a quarter of the average of the previous ten years, and large numbers of livestock died or were sold off relatively cheaply to pay for food. Malnutrition levels are high. Rural Eritreans have little access to essential social services such as health care and they lack safe drinking water.

Armed conflicts and mandatory military service take many men away from their villages and their families. As a result, a large number of rural households are headed by women, many of whom are widows. These women bear the dual burden of producing food and providing care for their families. Households headed by women are disadvantaged: they cultivate less land and have fewer assets, including livestock, than those headed by men. Women are particularly disadvantaged during the period when land is prepared for cultivation, because they are not allowed to operate oxen teams for ploughing. They have to rely on help from male relatives and neighbours, who may not be available to do the work at the proper time.

Although the situation is bleak for many families, rural communities across Eritrea have traditional ways of protecting the poor. During times of extreme stress, wealthier households dispose of assets, mainly livestock, and then make loans to poorer relatives and neighbours. Labour-sharing is also common: at various times during the agricultural cycle, a community's wealthier adults will assist households that are unable to cultivate their land.

Source: IFAD