Our natural resources

If we consider the natural phenomena we find only two factors that are relevant causes for the draught and famine in Ethiopia. Scarcity of water and poor soil (or soil with no right proportion of minerals). But in reality, does Ethiopia has scarcity of water? Is the soil of Ethiopia really that much unproductive? Is the soil of Djibouti and that of the Sudan and other countries in Sahara desert better that that of Ethiopia? I don't believe so. Thus, nature cannot be the major factor here.