sustainable development

Ethiopia – Growing crops and Opportunities

Nowhere is the value of water more clear than in this parched stretch of Ethiopian farmland 110 miles south of Addis Ababa where rainfall is scant and increasingly unreliable. For many of the region’s 10,000 villagers, easy access to water means the difference between poverty and opportunity.

With the help of Oxfam and its partner, the Selam Environmental Development Association (SEDA), a series of small scale irrigation projects has planted hope among farmers in eight villages in the Lake Ziway region, turning their barren plots into fields of corn, cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, and onions.

Recurrent drought, coupled with poor agricultural practices and a loss of fertile soil, has meant very low crop production in the Lake Ziway region. Without the money to invest in irrigation or the know-how to manage it, poor farmers had no choice but to wait for the rain. Hunger and a long dependence on food assistance were often the only things they got from their bone-dry fields.

In 2000, farmers from the village of Walinbula asked SEDA to help them set up an irrigation system on land that was unproductive. The farmers knew of the benefits of irrigation from having worked as labourers on state-owned farms during the communist military regime. Oxfam began funding the projects in 2001.

With simple technology – pipes, pumps, and diesel engines – farmers were finally able to pull the precious water from Lake Ziway. They also received training in modern cultivation practices, soil conservation, and marketing techniques. Add to that fertilizer and high-quality vegetable seeds, and farmers are not only growing enough food to feed their families, but they are selling the extra produce at market and building up their assets. Additionally, some farmers have started to organize into cooperatives to ensure a fair price for their produce.