DEVELOPMENT OF INSTITUTIONS AND THEIR INNOVATIONS TO REDUCE PERMANENTLY THE EFFECTS OF DROUGHTS ON AGRICULTURE (WITH IMPLICATION FOR ETHIOPIA)

Drought is a natural hazard that cannot be avoided significantly within the present level of scientific development. Studies and experiments to overcome drought have not yet reached the stage of development where the world can depend on the available scientific technology to avoid droughts. As a result, both scientifically developed and the developing nations face the problem equally. The recent droughts of the Sahel and Northeast Africa and the current drought of the Great Plains of the United States show how diverse the distribution of the problem is and the range of possible effects that might be sustained in the poor regions of the world such as the Sahel and the more developed regions like the Great Plains. There is a large body of experience on drought problem and how to handle it in many countries today. Despite this, some less developed countries, though they had faced the problem from time to time, have not looked at it as a serious national problem requiring organized national efforts and planned action until very recently, late after they have seriously suffered the consequences. As a result of this unpreparedness they have suffered serious losses whenever they are attacked by drought and the confusion and inefficiency that follow have caused great damages both to human life and property beyond repair in most cases. Even worse, there are some countries today that have not set up any national institution to look after this problem even though they have faced drought several times. Therefore, what is attempted in this research work is to look at the incidences of droughts in some countries with different economic, social, and political backgrounds at given periods in their history and evaluate how they developed their drought combating institutions and carried out their different programs