Approximately 50 percent of the fertile agricultural land in Ethiopia’s Tigray region remains uncultivated, raising acute concerns about food security and the long-term viability of rural livelihoods. This critical deficit in farming activity is directly attributed to the failure to fully implement the November 2022 Pretoria Peace Agreement. According to the Tigray Agriculture Bureau, this incomplete implementation means nearly half of the critical farmland is currently inaccessible to local communities and internally displaced persons (IDPs), severely limiting food production.
The inaccessibility is primarily due to security challenges in the contested Western Zone and other border areas where various armed groups, including Eritrean forces, maintain a presence. During the two-year conflict, fields, farms, and vital infrastructure were extensively looted or destroyed, including water and veterinary facilities. The lack of funding to repair this infrastructure, coupled with severely limited supplies of essential farming inputs like fertilizer (which was often stolen or unavailable), further prevents a return to pre-war normalcy for the accessible land.
As a result of these persistent disruptions, food shortages are escalating. A recent harvest assessment predicts that 2.5 million people in the region will require food assistance in 2025, with an estimated 500,000 facing critical food deficits. The inability to cultivate critical farmland, combined with adverse weather patterns and crop pests, severely threatens the expected yields and compounds the vulnerability of the population.
