Achievements and challenges of productive safety net program in overcoming chronic food insecurity in Ethiopia: A reflection

Abstract

Food insecurity has been one of the critical socioeconomic problems in Ethiopia. Recently, there are about 18 million food-insecure people in Ethiopia, of which around eight million are in emergency situation; while the remaining are in stressed conditions. Cognizant of this fact, the government of Ethiopia, together with donor organizations, formulated National Food Security Strategy in 1996 and is currently implementing the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP). This paper was, therefore, designed to reflect on the overall successes and challenges of PSNP in Ethiopia. Data were collected from relevant literature and organizations. The findings indicate that PSNP has registered significant achievements including consumption smoothening, asset protection, rural infrastructure development, and environmental conservation, though there are growing concerns and challenges including lack of adequate awareness among stakeholders and the community, nepotism, dependency syndrome among beneficiaries, poor quality of infrastructure, debatable graduation processes, low staff quality and turnover, budget deficiency and inflation of food prices. The overall contemporary situations related to the existing food insecurity problems and the resultant safety net program in Ethiopia call for significant transformation of the agricultural sector. In any way, PSNP of this magnitude should not be a long-lasting strategy for poverty alleviation in Ethiopia though, with the current situation, safety net programs are compulsory to protect the poor from further impoverishment and famine-induced deaths. To make the best of the program, comprehensive planning, well-thought-out genuine beneficiary recruitment manuals, an adequate understanding of the practices, efficient utilization of resources and competent leadership are vital.