As in many countries from sub-Saharan Africa, nutrition policy in Ethi
opia is dominated by a focus on national and household food production
and food security. The results of the 1992 national rural nutrition s
urvey, and a substantial body of evidence and theory from other settin
gs, challenge this view. In Ethiopia, high levels of chronic malnutrit
ion exist in food deficit and food surplus regions alike, and all regi
ons have experienced worsening of nutritional status during the last d
ecade. Moreover, child nutritional status is only weakly and inconsist
ently associated with size of cultivated area. Nutrition surveillance
and other empirically-based efforts to improve policy should give expl
icit attention to policy education as an integral part of their stated
objective and workplan.