Promising interventions in Ethiopia

Photo credit: Africa Rising

Lentil participatory variety selection (PVS) at Goshe Bado

End of season field days in Ethiopia zoom in on promising interventions

Posted on February 1, 2016 by SIMRET YASABU

The Africa RISING project in Ethiopia has been organizing field days since 2013 for a range of participants at its 4 sites and 8 research kebeles.

The mid-season, end season and larger field days aim to demonstrate on-farm research interventions and get feedback from participating and non-participating farmers and other local and CGIAR partners. The field days also help identify technologies and management practices that suit farmers’ needs under local environmental conditions.

Oat-vetch mixture fodder production at Gudo Beret – https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1688/23994893984_f2cd30cd13_n.jpg

Field days have proved to be a strong mechanism for cross-project learning as they have engaged farmers, extension, NGOs, universities, market dealers, industries and other value chain actors across the whole project stakeholder spectrum.

The project organized field days in all of its research kebeles in the last quarter of 2015.

Read the full article: Africa Rising

Drought in Ethiopia

Photo credit: UN News Centre

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (centre), accompanied by World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Ertharin Cousin (right), visited drought-affected Ziway Dugda Woreda, Oromia Region in Ethiopia. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

 

Visiting drought-hit region of Ethiopia, Ban urges support to Government-led humanitarian efforts

The international community must stand with the people of Ethiopia in their time of need, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, urging donors gathered in Addis Ababa to step up assistance to the country, before heading to the drought-stricken region of Oromia where he witnessed first-hand efforts under way to battle the effects of one of the most powerful El Niño events in recorded history.

“The people of this beautiful country are facing their worst drought in thirty years,” Mr. Bantold participants at a donors humanitarian round table convened in the Ethiopian capital in the margins of the 26th African Union Summit.

Later in the day, the Secretary-General visited the drought-stricken Oromia region with the Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Demeke Mekonnen, and Ertharin Cousin, the Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP). Saying that he was “very moved,” Mr. Ban visited a health post, a water borehole and a food distribution and cash transfer point.

“This is a very moving experience for me as Secretary-General to witness myself how the Ethiopian Government and the United Nations agencies, the World Bank, all humanitarian workers are working together to address difficult challenges,” he said noting that the area has been seriously impacted by long spells of drought caused by El Niño climate phenomenon. “It is important that the Government is leading this response and the United Nations is now helping: it is quite moving,” he reiterated.

The Secretary-General went on to say that when he saw the people working and trying to get water and trying to improve their health nutrition conditions, it took him back brought more than 60 years ago “when […] I was a young boy in Korea, early 1950s. As you may know, Korea had war at the time. When the war broke out, we were [in a situation] as difficult as people are now here, even more difficult at the time.”

He said he was very much grateful to all humanitarian workers at the small health post where he had seen health workers distributing vaccines, and providing check-ups. It was impressive to see that malnutrition levels had dropped significantly and that people had been saved from malaria.

Read the full article: UN News Centre

 

More money needed for food aid

 

Photo credit: UN News Centre

Failed sorghum crop, as the current El Niño pattern, being the strongest ever recorded, has caused severe drought in Ethiopia. Photo: UNOCHA Ethiopia/Lemma Tamiru

As food emergency intensifies in drought-hit Ethiopia, UN appeals for more resources

Despite the well-coordinated response already under way to offset the impacts of an El Niño-induced drought in Ethiopia, the United Nations humanitarian wing has warned that the scale of the developing emergency exceeds resources and that more funding is urgently needed to ensure food distribution and child protection amid ongoing malnutrition and water shortages.

“Resources currently in-hand do not guarantee a full relief food basket for beneficiaries,” said the latest weekly update on Ethiopia compiled by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

It also added that “without additional resources, the food sector projects a full pipeline break in a couple of months.”

$1.2 billion is needed for food relief to10.2 million people. However, the current appeal is only funded by one third.

Given the lead times necessary for the procurement of relief items, the Government and its international partners have called for early action to this slow onset natural disaster.

Fragmentation of delivery is of critical priority as it has negative implications for nutrition and health, and the beneficiaries have to travel more than twice to the food distribution point within short period.

Meanwhile, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is helping deliver food to 2 million people and has started using the humanitarian supplies from the Port of Berbera in Somaliland.

Read the full article: UN News Centre

Drought-Resistant White Beans for Smallholder Farmers

Photo credit: Food Tank

The drought in Ethiopia is threatening the livelihoods of smallholder farmers who grow 10 percent of the world’s white beans.

iStock

Drought-Resistant White Beans Bring Hope to Smallholder Farmers in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is one of the world’s largest exporters of white beans, most commonly used to make baked beans. But, severe drought in the country is threatening bean production and the livelihoods of the smallholder farmers who are responsible for the majority of the white bean crop. Food Tank interviewed researchers from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) who wrote a recent report on this crisis and on deploying a new drought-resilient bean variety to Ethiopia.

Food Tank (FT): The drought in Ethiopia has cut yields of beans by 30 percent. Can you explain the effect this percentage has on both the economy and food production?

Georgina Smith (GS): This percentage is the estimated loss for smallholder farmers in terms of their yield. Around three million smallholder farmers in Ethiopia rely on white pea bean sales to buy food and cover other costs, like school fees. In terms of the overall impact on the economy, it is too early to tell. White pea beans are not Ethiopia’s main export, but they are worth more than US$90 million per year. In terms of the impact on food production, most of the white pea beans are not consumed domestically – their value is in the export price – but domestic consumption is increasing.

FT: Ethiopia accounts for about 10 percent of the global supply of white beans. What is the ripple effect this drought has had on the rest of the world?

GS: The threat is mostly to smallholder farmers in Ethiopia, who risk their income from the beans. If the total volume of beans for canning goes down, companies who depend on Ethiopia for their bean supply will be at risk.

According to Eliud Birachi, an International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) market economist working with the Pan-African Bean Research Alliance (PABRA), said tackling climate-related issues is critical given rising demand for the beans.

Read the full article: Food Tank

Food insecurity caused by El Niño-induced drought

Photo credit: UN News Centre

West Hararghe region, Ethiopia, December 2015. Some 10.2 million people are food insecure amidst one of the worst droughts to hit Ethiopia in decades. Photo: WFP/Stephanie Savariaud

Ethiopia: $50 million needed to tackle food insecurity caused by El Niño-induced drought, says UN

As the worst El Niño-induced drought has sparked a sharp deterioration in food security and massive drop in agricultural and pastoral production in Ethiopia, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today presented a $50 million plan to assist agriculture- and livestock-dependent households and enhance their resilience.

“The outlook for 2016 is very grim,” said Amadou Allahoury, FAO Representative for Ethiopia, adding that “continued drought throughout the beginning of 2016 also means pasture will become even more scarce, which will negatively impact livestock keepers that rely on those grazing lands and water points for their food security.”

The current El Niño pattern, being the strongest ever recorded, has caused severe drought in the Horn of Africa nation, resulting in crop reduction by 50 to 90 per cent; even failure in some regions. Thus, some 10.2 million people are food insecure and farmers have been left vulnerable without valuable seeds for upcoming planting season.

Moreover, livestock will become leaner, sicker and less productive and perish, as worsening access to pasture and water continues, according to FAO’s latest assessments. Meanwhile, malnutrition rates have spiked and the number of severe acute malnutrition admissions for children is now the highest ever reported.

In response, FAO has outlined an emergency roadmap aiming at assisting 1.8 million farmers and livestock keepers, reducing food gaps, and restoring agricultural production and incomes in 2016.

“$50 million is now sought from the international community by FAO to reach and this is an immediate need because we have to be there in the next few weeks for them for the farmers and pastoralists to start agriculture and this is a very urgent need for assistance,” Shukri Ahmed, FAO Senior Economist, appealed in a video interview.

First, FAO plans to assist 131,500 households through agricultural production, especially for the first half of 2016. This includes emergency seed distribution, small-scale irrigation and backyard gardening initiatives, support for seed producers and women’s empowerment.

Next, some 293,000 households will benefit from FAO’s livestock interventions, such as the distribution of emergency animal feed, vaccination drives, restocking of 100,000 goats and sheep to vulnerable households, as well as cash-for-livestock exchange programmes.

Read the full article: UN News Centre

How local solutions to water access could deliver sustainable growth

Photo credit: IWMI

Water from a river is diverted to a small tank to be used in Ethiopia for cultivation – Photo Fitsum Hagos

Is small beautiful for Africa’s farmers?

More than half a billion Africans, or some two thirds of the continent’s population, depend on farming as their primary source of livelihood. While this number includes pastoralists and the landless, the great majority of these are smallholder farmers, 80 per cent of whom farm less than two hectares. [1] For many the one key factor constraining an improvement in their lives is a lack of access to water. This is not because the landscape lacks water – far from it: only a tiny fraction of the available water is productively used. The critical issue is one of timing…

Rainfall in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa is highly seasonal. This means that unless farmers can store water and then have the means to access it, they are limited to one harvest per year. Aside from natural surface stores like lakes and wetlands, water can be accumulated in ponds or reservoirs, or underground in aquifers. Then, of course, some form of pump is usually needed to get the water from where it is stored to where it is needed.

Early attempts to improve agricultural water access in Africa usually revolved around the construction of large publicly run irrigation schemes. But the results were generally disappointing: overall the large systems did not deliver the expected increases in crop yields or farm incomes. More recently the focus has shifted to smaller on-farm water access. Both approaches are important, but ceding control of water management to individual farmers has many advantages in countries where public institutions are often weak. If farmers can control their own water access, they have a much better opportunity to grow high value crops like vegetables during dry periods.

The situation is complex, however. Well managed public irrigation schemes can still deliver spectacular results. Individual farm innovations are popular with smallholders, but many do not have the resources to invest. In some areas a combination of the two can be the most appropriate solution to equitable and sustainable water management.

 

Read the full article: IWMI

Solar pumps in Ethiopia

Photo credit: Africa Rising – https://agintensificationafrica.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/solar-pumps.jpg?w=225&h=300

 

Solar pumps seeing the light in Lemo, Ethiopia

by SIMRET YASABU

In September 2015, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) installed solar pumps in Upper Gana and Jawe, two communities in southern Ethiopia.

The new solar pumps developed by the Dutch NGO Practica and produced in Kenya are for the first time being implemented in Ethiopia. Africa RISING is the first to test them out – or rather the farmers are the first.

Together with IWMI, farmers cultivating avocado, fodder and vegetables will be testing the robustness of the technology in the upcoming dry season. Aside from the agronomic and irrigation research, IWMI will be working with the Omo Micro Finance Institution to assess whether it is a viable investment.

Read the full article: Africa Rising

 

 

Drought and hunger in Ethiopia

Photo credit: UN News Centre – http://static.un.org/News/dh/photos/large/2015/December/12-08-2015Ethiopia.jpg

Nine-year-ole Zahara Ali cooks breakfast in a rural village in the Dubti Woreda, Afar Region, Ethiopia. Photo: UNICEF Ethiopia/2015/Tanya Bindra

Ethiopia: UN urges support to mitigate most devastating drought in 30 years

EXCERPT

The United Nations today stepped up its efforts to mitigate the effects of the worst drought to strike Ethiopia in 30 years, with an appeal from the heads of four UN humanitarian bodies for massive international funding now to pre-empt the high risk of death and large scale suffering later.

“We know this is coming. We know how to prevent it. We simply have to act, now,” they wrote in an opinion article for the Huffington Post.

“So far, donors have provided an additional $200 million in aid, but there are early indications that the amount needed to make sure lives are not lost could be around $1 billion. Ethiopia needs that money now, if we are to avert a second tragedy in 30 years,” they added, referring to the catastrophic drought that killed hundreds of thousands from 1983 to 1985.

……………………

By early next year, projections indicate that 400,000 children could suffer from Severe Acute Malnutrition, a potentially fatal condition that requires immediate treatment, with some having massive loss of body fat and muscle that makes them look almost elderly, and others becoming puffy with their hair.

“Both sets of symptoms mean there is a high risk of death,” the four warned. “The key to stopping this crisis in its tracks is early warning followed by decisive action.”

They noted that the Government’s safety net programme, the largest in Africa, will assist eight million of the poorest Ethiopians to access food.

Read the full article: UN News Centre

Drought and food aid in Ethiopia

Photo credit: UN News Centre

Dry earth in the desert plains of the Danakil depression in northern Ethiopia. Photo: Siegfried Modola/IRIN

As Ethiopia battles devastating drought, UN sends in emergency health team

With Ethiopia battling its worst drought in 30 years due to the El Niño weather pattern, with 8.2 million people already in urgent need of food aid, the United Nations has sent an emergency health team to help support the Government’s response to a crisis that is expected to become even worse over the next eight months.

“The food security emergency is coming against a background of multiple ongoing epidemics in the country,” the interim Director of Emergency Risk Management and Humanitarian Response at the UN World Health Organization (WHO), Michelle Gayer, saidtoday.

“This creates an additional burden for people’s health as well as the health system as malnutrition, especially in children, predisposes them to more severe infectious disease, which can kill quickly,” she added.

The current El Niño, among the strongest on record, caused by a cyclical warming in the Pacific Ocean, affects climate over a wide swathe of the world, bringing more floods to some areas and longer droughts to others, as well as stronger typhoons and cyclones.

Ethiopia has experienced two poor growing seasons in 2015. Due to delayed rains attributed to El Niño, its main annual harvest was severely reduced. Every month since January has seen an increase in the number of malnourished children, with 400,000 likely to face severe malnutrition in 2016. In addition, some 700,000 expecting and recent mothers are at risk for severe malnutrition.

Anticipating a major increase in health risks, WHO has mobilized drugs, equipment and human resources. Vulnerable populations, such as children requiring therapeutic feeding and health care, are particularly at risk of illness and death. El Niño can lead to significant increases in diseases, such as malaria, dengue fever, diarrhoea and cholera – major killers of children.

Ethiopia is one of the most affected countries by El Niño thus far. “We are very concerned that right now, there are not enough resources to provide an effective and coordinated health response across Ethiopia,” WHO Emergency Response Coordinator in Ethiopia Kebba Jaiteh said. “Without a proper response, El Niño could reverse years of progress on health for Ethiopians.”

Read the full article: UN News Centre

Beans to beat drought

 

Photo credit: Ciat

This community in Ethiopia built the community hall with money from white beans.

“White gold” beans to beat drought in Ethiopia

by Georgina Smith

New drought-resilient white beans – most commonly used to make baked beans – will be deployed to Ethiopia, as erratic weather threatens national production and farmers’ incomes.

New bean varieties help farmers stay ahead of threats, including those posed by climate change. – http://www.ciatnews.cgiar.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/21871254402_1f009ae30f_z-1-300×200.jpg

Severe drought in Ethiopia, Africa’s largest exporter of the bean used to make baked beans, could hit production for millions who cultivate and rely on income from the bean. The drought – the worst to hit the country’s bean-producing areas in 10 years, researchers report – has cut yields by 30 percent.

Low rainfall at the height of the bean season in the Rift Valley can also reduce bean quality. Combined with other factors influencing the world price – the beans are exported mostly to Europe for canning –farmers are expected to less income and prices have already fallen.

Transformed from a neglected staple into a cash crop, with exports worth more than US$90 million, the grain provides income for around three million smallholder farmers in Ethiopia who rely on white bean sales – known locally as “white gold”- to buy food and cover other costs like school fees. Thousands more are employed in postharvest processing of the beans for export.

Read the full story: CIAT Blog

Tef, gluten-free, highly nutritious and drought-tolerant

Photo credit: ICRISAT

Tef: New superfood crop in ICRISAT’s portfolio

Tef (Eragrostis tef), an important crop for both income and nutrition in Ethiopia, has joined the list of ICRISAT’s research crops. Being a minor millet and grown in semi-arid and sub-humid environments, it fits well into ICRISAT’s mandate.

Injera made from tef is a staple dish in Ethiopia.

Photo: GA Ayele

 

Tef is not only gluten-free, but also highly nutritious. It has the highest amount of protein among cereals and has high levels of calcium, phosphorous, iron, copper, barium and thiamine.

Relatively unknown outside the country, Ethiopians are proud of the crop and consider it as their identity. Tef is grown on 3.02 million ha land with more than 6.54 million smallholder farmers producing 4.75 million tons. It is the number one crop in terms of area and ranks second in terms of production in Ethiopia.

The decision to include tef was made by ICRISAT Governing Board during its 72nd meeting held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in April 2015. This was at the request of Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR). As a follow-up, ICRISAT organized a stakeholder consultation meeting recently to identify key constraints and opportunities using the value chain approach.

“It is really exciting to focus on tef which is gaining prominence internationally. The ability of the crop to grow in diverse environments and its nutritional value makes it an extremely important crop in improving the resilience, income and food security especially under climate change. There is a need to improve the profitability of tef cultivation while undertaking genomic and genetic studies that help develop varieties resistant to lodging and other stresses that the crop is facing,” said Dr David Bergvinson, Director General, ICRISAT.

Read the full story: ICRISAT

“Agro-ecology” in Ethiopia

 

Regreening program to restore one-sixth of Ethiopia’s land

Tree and shrub-planting program has transformed degraded and deforested land across Africa, with Ethiopia planning to restore a further 15m hectares by 2030

by John Vidal

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/30/regreening-program-to-restore-land-across-one-sixth-of-ethiopia

Fifteen years years ago the villages around Abrha Weatsbha in northern Ethiopiawere on the point of being abandoned. The hillsides were barren, the communities, plagued by floods and droughts, needed constant food aid, and the soil was being washed away.

Today, Abrha Weatsbha in the Tigray region is unrecognisable and an environmental catastrophe has been averted following the planting of many millions of tree and bush seedlings. Wells that were dry have been recharged, the soil is in better shape, fruit trees grow in the valleys and the hillsides are green again.

The “regreening” of the area, achieved in just a few years for little cost by farming communities working together to close off large areas to animals, save water and replant trees, is now to be replicated across one sixth of Ethiopia – an area the size of England and Wales. The most ambitious attempt yet to reduce soil erosion, increase food security and adapt to climate change is expected to vastly increase the amount of food grown in one of the most drought- and famine-prone areas of the world.

“Large areas of Ethiopia and the Sahel were devastated by successive droughts and overgrazing by animals in the 1960s and 1970s,” says Chris Reij, a researcher with the World Resources Institute in Washington.

Read the full article: The Guardian

VIDEO : https://youtu.be/7NU5j-wCdPg