Internally displaced persons receive aid at a food distribution point in Torotow village in Lower Shabelle Region near Mogadishu. ((Mowlid Abdi/Reuters)) Ethiopia says it needs emergency food aid for 6.2 million people because of a prolonged drought that is devastating crops and livestock.

Mitiku Kassa, Ethiopia's state minister for agriculture and rural development, appealed Thursday for more than $121 million.

Ethiopia's appeal came the same day Oxfam released a report that encourages international donors to reconsider how food aid is delivered.

It has been 25 years since a catastrophic drought in Ethiopia killed more than one million people, and the Oxfam report calls for a new approach that would see more donors supporting projects that help countries avoid famine, rather than simply supplying emergency food aid.

Penny Lawrence, international director for Oxfam, said that the international community can do more for drought-stricken communities.

"Donors need to shift their approach, and help to give communities the tools to tackle disasters before they strike," Lawrence said.

"Drought does not need to mean hunger and destitution. If communities have irrigation for crops, grain stores, and wells to harvest rains then they can survive despite what the elements throw at them."

Famine survivor calls for change

Birhan Woldu, who wrote the introduction to the Oxfam report, became the face of the Ethiopian famine in 1984 when a CBC team captured an image of her near death from lack of food.

Today, Woldu has a nursing degree and a diploma in agriculture.

"Twenty-five years ago, my life was saved by Irish nursing sisters who gave me an injection, and food aid from organizations like Band Aid. So it may seem strange for me to say now that to get food aid from overseas is not the best way," Woldu wrote.

But Woldu said she supports Oxfam's proposal, and would like to see more long-term programs to help end African countries reliance on imported food aid.

"Let us grow our own food and help manage our own systems so we are not hit so hard when the next drought or flood comes."

While Oxfam wants to see changes in the food aid system, it notes in its report that emergency aid does save lives.

The aid organization launched an emergency appeal in late September to try to raise funds for people living through the drought in East Africa, with donations to be split between emergency food programs and longer-term projects designed to help local communities cope with future droughts.

"The current situation is not as bad as 1984, but it is extremely concerning," said Robyn Baron, humanitarian program officer at Oxfam Canada who recently returned from a visit to Oxfam projects in Ethiopia.

"So far, we are not seeing the extent of devastation witnessed 25 years ago and we hope it does not get to that stage. However, people are suffering extreme hardship and struggling to get enough food and water."

Drought can be disastrous in Ethiopia because more than 80 per cent of people live off the land.