1987-1991 Salamati famine
The 1987-1991 Salamati famine (Arabic : 1987-1991 مجاعة سلاماتي), also known as the Kharrabi famine, was a period of widespread starvation in Salamat during the last years of Jalil Al Kharrabi's regime. The famine has heavily affected the country, and 800 000 died during the famine, although estimations range from 350 000 deaths to 2.2 million deaths.
Background
Salamat was an authoritarian socialist country, with Jalil Al Kharrabi in power. Multiple events like the murder of Majid Muhammad resulted in an international embargo and sanctions, thus privating Salamat from food imports, except imports from Ezenchia, which was a major ally.
Salamat always was more or less an agrarian society, like its neighbor Khirmania, however industrialization took place sooner and people started migrating to cities in the 50s and 60s, eventually giving up their farms.
In 1980, Al Kharrabi launched the agricultural revolution, in an attempt to force collectivization of farms, and change the system of distribution of food. The agricultural revolution was the cause of a food insecurity crisis directly after its implementation in 1981 among farmers, even though it didn't spread out in the rest of the country.
Timeline
1987
The food shortage started in mid-1987, after the exceptionally dry wet season of 1986-1987, with 86 mm of rainfall in Dar Al Hamma in January compared to the average 248 mm. Quickly, the dry season started in March, as expected, and the recolt of maize, wheat, potatoes and rice was incredibly low compared to the annual average, and with only manioc having an average yield. The food distribution system noticed this decrease, and lowered the allocated food amount to farmers, to keep a consistent amount for cities. This declenched a revolt among farmers, with hundreds raiding food storage depots and stealing grains.
Respectively, the yield of maize, wheat, potatoes and rice decreased from 6.3 tons/ha, 2.8 tons/ha, 13.6 tons/ha and 6.1 tons/ha in average, to 3.9 tons/ha, 1.9 tons/ha, 10.5 tons/ha and 3.2 tons/ha in the 1987 Agricultural report of Salamat. The manioc yield, decreased from 19.7 tons/ha to 19.4 tons/ha, which was still considered "acceptable".
In April, the distribution of the wet season recolts began. 80% of the recolt was shipped to big cities, with the rest left to the countryside. One week after the end of the distribution, numerous officials declared that the amount of food shipped was insufficient, and required that more reserves should be sent. However, the Agriculture Bureau, the organism charged of distributing the grains to various parts of the country, declared that all of the year's recolt were shipped, and that sending more food was impossible.
On May 8 1987, Karim Al Diwad, the president of the Agriculture Bureau, declared in a conference that "there is no drought, everything is good" as an effort to reassure both the population and other countries that there wasn't any problem with the distribution system and the recolts. However, when the news that a collective farm was vandalized by hungry farmers in Northeastern Salamat in late May surfaced, the situation was clear ; there was a food shortage. Salamat could not ask for relief to the international community, due to the sanctions imposed. Al Kharrabi turned to Ezenchia instead. A few days later, 7 000 tons of wheat and rice arrived at Dar Al Hamma International Airport as an effort to relieve the food shortage.
The Salamati authorities launched a campaign in September, at the end of the dry season, encouraging farmers to stop growing rice in favor for manioc, which was a very minor crop in Salamat. Though, farmers decided to continue growing rice, as it had a higher price on the market.
On September 22, Jalil Al Kharrabi brought up the topic of the famine for the first time. He accused the farmers and peasants to be "selfish", to steal the food that was destined to the whole Salamati people. The next day, thousands of farmers decided to protest against the accusation and some refrained from planting their crops this season, although this wasn't encouraged by the peasant group responsible for the protests.
In December, the Anterian Food Watch's Acute Food Insecurity Phase Map classified Salamat as being on level 4 - Emergency. Some observers in the country noticed peasants with slender bodies, and some children with skin peeling, which is a symptom of severe malnutrition. On December 26 1987, food rationing started in Salamat. The Anterian Food Watch's Acute Food Insecurity Phase Map classified Salamat as being on level 5 - Catastrophe/Famine. In early December, a flood was reported. Most grain reserves, which were stored underground, were lost due to the floods.
1988
The flood continued for the first half of 1988. Record precipitations were reported all over the country, with 379 mm of precipitations in Dar Al Hamma in January, compared to the 248 mm on average. The domestic food production in cereal equivalent dropped severely, from 19 107 000 tons on average to just 9 313 000 tons in the 1987-1988 wet season. The rationing system was fully put in place in February ; here are the rations for different citizen classes in 1988 :
| Type of citizen | Ration |
|---|---|
| Government official / Member of the army | 950 g/day |
| Average worker | 675 g/day |
| Farmers / Peasants | 400 g/day |
| Retired | 250 g/day |
| Children aged 2-5 | 175 g/day |
This rationing system was widely criticized by both Salamatis and foreigners due to the uneven rations. The rations also took time to arrive, leaving some citizens without rations for one week or even two weeks. In March 1988, the yields of the 1988 Agricultural report of Salamat were as following : Maize : 3.7 t/ha (6.3 on avg) Potatoes : 6.2 t/ha (13.6 on avg) Rice : 4.4 t/ha (6.1 on avg) Wheat : 1.5 t/ha (2.8 on avg) Manioc : 17.9 t/ha (19.7 on avg)
The Salamati, which became highly reliant on potatoes due to the preceding drought, were in difficulties due to the floods which decimated potato fields and reduced by half the potato production. As a consequence, 120 000 died due to the lack of food in the sole months from April to October 1988. As a way to avoid death, the Salamatis started eating unedible elements like dirt, rocks, tree bark or grass in order to survive.
The economy also was impacted by the famine, with the Salamati energy grid, oil and gas production, and factory activity decreasing over the months, due to the famine. Sightings of starving citizens were more and more common, especially in rural areas, where food rationing was less prioritized.
Due to the famine, a coup attempt took place, aiming to oust Jalil Al Kharrabi due to his awful management of the crisis.
On November 6 1988, Jalil Al Kharrabi made a speech, acknowledging that there was "a food shortage", due to a drought and a flood, which stopped in July to resume in mid August.
The flood was seriously damaging crops, and the longevity of the flood affected the yields of 1989 even more.
1989
1989 was considered as the worst year of the famine, with the yields decreasing even more compared to the 1988 Agricultural report of Salamat ; Wheat yields reached an all time low at 987 kg/ha, and potatoes at 5.2 t/ha. The people started planting manioc instead of wheat, and started remplacing ingredients of some traditional dishes to include grass and manioc instead of vegetables and wheat. The situation was described as "dire" by a Riamese journalist, in a documentary filmed in April 1989.
Clean water was also becoming an issue, with cholera making its apparition, and killing 26 000 in Salamat during the famine. Malnutrition among children hit 22% in mid-1989, and most children didn't have enough energy to even walk. The healthcare sector was saturated and underequiped, even with Ezenchian aid. The international community still disagreed to ship food, until Jalil Al Kharrabi would be remplaced.
The floods ended in the middle of the dry season, in early July 1989.
On the night from August 16 to August 17 1989, the Bloody Moon Purge took place. Among the victims, the president of the Agriculture Bureau, Karim Al Diwad, supposedly accused from ruining the recolts.
In September 1989, huge masses of hungry, emaciated farmers stormed food grain depots all over the country to survive. The economy decreased even more, and the baby boom, which started in the late 70s, was greatly slowed down due to the famine.
On November 23 1989, The Agriculture Bureau emitted a notice to farmers, recommending them to grow manioc instead of their usual crops ; a notice which was widely ignored. The 1989-1990 recolt season was predicted to be a good season by Salamati authorities, although a little too dry. Other countries evoked the risk of another drought.
1990 and 1991
The risk of a drought was confirmed, with even less precipitations than in 1986-1987. In addition to the drought, a grasshopper invasion occurred, devastating crops.
The 1990 Agricultural report of Salamat reported this ; "The yields of staple crops in 1990 are : Maize : 4 t/ha (6.3 on avg) Potatoes : 8.5 t/ha (13.6 on avg) Rice : 2.9 t/ha (6.1 on avg) Wheat : 1.3 t/ha (2.8 on avg) Manioc : 16.6 t/ha (19.7 on avg) [...] The domestic food production in cereal equivalent of Salamat in 1990 is of 9 040 000 tons, lower than 1988s 9 313 000 tons and the average of 19 107 000 tons, but higher than last years 8 217 000 tons."
The situation was slowly improving, and the Kharrabi regime was slowly opening. Upon these news, some countries agreed to ship food to Salamat, with about 450 000 tons of cereal equivalent food shipped during the year of 1990.
The famine continued, with the average caloric intake of the Salamati in 1990 was of 1,635 kcal/day, compared to the 2,529 kcal/day in 1980.
In September 1990, meteorological previsions theorized the appearance of another drought, but luckily the drought did not happen and the 1990-1991 recolt was a little bit below the norms.
However, the food insecurity persisted until late 1991, with the bad distribution of rations all across the country. The economy still had a bad time recovering, with people lacking energy to work correctly. Over the weeks, the situation improved, and the Anterian Food Watch's Acute Food Insecurity Phase Map downgraded Salamat to level 4 on June 23 1991, then level 3 on April 10 1992, before returning to level 1 in June 2000.
Aftermath
The famine had a terrible impact on the country ; The economy was heavily impacted. The oil and gas production dropped due to workers not being able to work correctly ; the electricity grid decreased, leading in shortages and sometimes complete blackouts ; The farming sector collapsed, with cooperative farms not being able to provide enough for its own farmers and the population in urban areas ; the GDP decreased. All of these contribued to the fall of Jalil Al Kharrabi's regime.
800 000 lost their lives during this 4 year-long famine, which drove people to flee the country to seek for help ; The famine also gained foreign interest, and was viewed by opposants to the regime as a blow to Al Kharrabi's ideology of "agricultural revolution".
The famine is still remembered as a tragic chapter in the history of Salamat.