Ethiopia Goes Organic

Famines and Ethiopia have become irrevocably linked in the public mind since Bob Geldof's Live Aid Concert in the 1980s. But big changes are afoot. We carried the first exclusive report (Science in Society 16, 2002) on how Ethiopia is determined to feed herself. This success story is now told in full.

A project with small beginnings, based on reviving the traditional Indian farming practice of pit composting, has increased yields over and above chemical fertilizers and turned barren degraded land into productive greenery. The results are so impressive that the Ethiopian government is ready to adopt organic agriculture as one of its strategies for food security. Ethiopia is taking the lead in delivering not just food security to the nation: but good quality, nutritious food free from agrochemicals and a clean environment, which are crucial to delivering good health. This is what every country in the world should be doing, rich or poor.

The composting package was first introduced in 1996 to the northern state of Tigray by distinguished Ethiopian ecologist, Dr Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, recipient of the Right Livelihood award. Tewolde (what his friends calls him) is no stranger in international politics. As representative of the Ethiopian government and the African Union, he has been championing the rights of the poorest countries at the FAO Commission on Plant Genetic Resources, and played a key role in the successful negotiation of the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol for regulating genetically modified organisms.

We are privileged to have the inside story told by Sue Edwards, the Director of the Institute of Sustainable Development in Addis Ababa, who shared responsibility of the Tigray project with Tewolde.

For more information go to http://www.i-sis.org.uk/GreeningEthiopia.php