William Lambers

The U.S. has a great tradition of leading the fight against famine wherever it occurs. In 1946, just a year after World War II ended, the threat of massive famine loomed over the globe as food supplies were running low. In this case, the paths of the U.S., Somalia, and Ethiopia crossed briefly.

Herbert Hoover, who was appointed food ambassador during this crisis, first reviewed the food supply of as many nations as possible. In this report were listed Somaliland and Ethiopia. Hoover writes "of self-sufficient nations in Africa, we classified Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia, and Somaliland, with a total population perhaps of 35,000,000 people."

There were no reports of drought that year in East Africa. Of course, any country not in food deficit at that time was a huge relief with the impending worldwide famine. It was going to be enough of a challenge to meet the food needs of the war-devastated countries.

Whether or not there is a drought is all about luck. In 1946 there was luckily none in East Africa. This year a different story--a huge drought.

What does not depend on luck though is how well nations are prepared to deal with drought. Many actions can be taken by the international community to help build up the resilience of farmers in developing countries so that when drought does hit, it is not catastrophic. Food reserves can also be in place to prevent a year of setbacks from drought and keep a country moving toward food security.

So, this is one of the lessons of this year. Invest in farmers today to avoid the famine of tomorrow.

William Lambers is the author of several books including "Ending World Hunger: School Lunches for Kids Around the World." This book features over 50 interviews with officials from the UN World Food Programme, Catholic Relief Services, World Vision, Shakira's Barefoot Foundation and ChildsLife International. The interviews, arranged by country, detail school feeding programs that fight child hunger. His articles have been published by the History News Network, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Chicago Sun-Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the New York Times and the Bakersfield Californian.

Article first published as Remembering the Horn of Africa this Holiday Season on Blogcritics.

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