[This article is a personal attempt to answer the question “Sow what” asked in the November issue of Newsweek of 2015. I claim no expert knowledge on the subject. But this is my point of view about what can be sown in Ethiopia to alleviate the problem of food shortage in the country. The title of the cover page of the magazine is The Future of Farming.]
To start from the simplest idea, Ethiopia used to be described as the breadbasket of Africa. Unfortunately, in the early 1970s it was hit by drought and the ensuing famine brought about political upheaval of an unprecedented kind. The 1980s also witnessed the same kind of phenomena. There is no doubt that these events had to a certain extent, affected the image of the country world-wide.
It took many years to build the good image that was lost. Since the beginning of the millennium things seemed to have changed for the better. But there is no guarantee that the country will continue to do well in the future and that food shortage would not emerge as the number one problem surpassing all other problems being faced by the country today.
By way of paving the road for food self-sufficiency every attempt should be made to ensure peace and security. Without peace and security, farming activity could be greatly curtailed. The farmer would not have the desire to plough the field nor to decide easily what kind of seed to sow. Apart from what prevails in the external environment, it requires peace of mind to plan ahead on what to do both in the short-term and in the long-run.
Land utilization is an issue associated with intensive and extensive farming. Both can ensure high yields, but the choice depends on the availability of labour force. Simple mathematical knowledge dictates that the more the land to be farmed, the greater the labour power required.
Traditional farming methods where work is done cooperatively to handle large work as required by extensive farming need constant attention and encouragement. Family-managed farming operations with one or two oxen are suited for intensive farming rather than for extensive ones.
The age composition of family members has a part to play in the total harvest. A family with a good number of working age young men and women has a better chance of success than its counterpart with dependent persons both very young and old.
The use of fertilizers has increasingly been a vital component in farming in our country. This is in line with the world-wide trend. As the Newsweek issue referred to above shows, fertilizers increase yields, and as a result, fertilizers have helped South-east Asian countries to avert famine and achieve food self-sufficiency from the 1940s up to the present time. The method is an outcome of scientific and technological innovation which has not been properly applied in Africa for one reason or another.
Ethiopia had not been lagging behind in building the necessary infrastructure including agricultural research institutions. The institutions provide valuable results to be applied by farmers. For example, different varieties of improved seeds and strains of cereals have been discovered during a long period of scientific investigation and research. However, the impact of new findings has not been satisfactory.
Improved farming machineries have replaced to a very limited degree the old type of farming using oxen. However, where the land is predominantly rough and characterized by rocks than plain fields, the adoption of modern machineries has not been successful. Moreover, modern farm machineries are costly and cannot be bought and used by small-scale farmers.
Ordinary farmers rely heavily on their muscle for their source of energy. They take care of cows or oxen individually. They upload or download one hundred quintals of wheat or maize on pack animals to sell the crops at the nearest market by going to and fro the whole day. Trucks are rarely used for this purpose. Even trucks are used to transport grain for long distances unloading and loading is still a problem.
Farm management requires scientific knowledge and skills. The idea of letting a plot of land to remain fallow for one or two years or seasons in order to enable it regenerate its mineral constituents is not given serious attention. Therefore, the same crop is cultivated on the same plot of land year in and year out. In any case, famers have no choice other than to practice this to sustain themselves because the farm fields have been divided indefinitely one generation after another due to population growth.
Her report indicates an optimistic note because of new discoveries such as the cultivation of grain with the help of greenhouses somewhat in line with the growing of flowers under controlled environment or enclosed plastic covers.
But it is not such scientific methods that seriously should attract the interest and attention of farmers in the country, even though the benefits of greenhouses cannot be ruled out. Sowing crops in rotation, increasing nitrogen constituents by planting potatoes when the land is left fallow, using irrigation and other methods to make farming more attractive and more satisfactory would help contribute to the increase of grain supply and make the country to be self-sufficient in food so as to avert minor and serious problems related to nutrition.
Another area of interest to farmers is the planting of tree-seedlings. A programme related to this endeavor has been launched mostly in the environs of Addis Ababa on July 29, 2019. This is a unique campaign intended to leave an imprint on the future generation. The way it is going to be conducted was discussed on TV. It constitutes a huge investment in an afforestation campaign ever carried out at such a large scale in the country before.
The reason that this activity is different from sowing is that it has a special purpose, namely to make up for the loss of trees over the years. Afforestation keeps the soil from continuing to be washed away by running water. It has an effect on the eco-system in line with the wake-up call to arrest carbon emission into the atmosphere and create balance that will have a positive impact on climate change.
In the country-side especially surrounding villages trees serve as wind-breakers. They also protect people from the burning rays of the sun. They serve as resting places both by day and night to birds that move from place to place either separately or in groups. Their utility to farmers as tools for making plows is very high. This has been the case in Ethiopia throughout the ages. Both exotic and indigenous trees have been playing an active part as source of fuel and as materials for housing construction.
Planting of tree-seedlings on the one hand and sowing of cereals on appropriate areas are the backbone of fruitful agricultural endeavours whose progress must be examined annually to ensure that they provide maximum benefit to the people. They should be assessed both quantitatively and qualitatively by whatever means or method possible.
The Ethiopian Herald July 30/2019
BY BERHANU TIBEBU ZEWOLDE
