Clever Ethiopian Farmers Slow Water Waste and Fight Drought
By Bernard Gagnon – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27835401
A Grist.org article reports that “Ethiopian Farmers Made a Desert Bloom Again.”
A combination of arduous work by farmer families, assistance from Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation (Africa RISING), and a decision by the government of Ethiopia to support a local drought-fighting initiative rather than relocate the farmers, made this attempt possible.
Farmers in Ethiopia, and neighboring Eritrea, have been terracing their land to save water and prevent erosion, when possible, for hundreds of years.
Watch the short Africa RISING: soil management in Ethiopia’s highlands video. The video was shot by Henry Tenenbaum and produced by Georgina Smith at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture.
*Check out the STEMRules.com gallery: Environmental Specialists You Missed on Earth Day.
http://grist.org/is a US nonprofit online magazine that publishes “irreverent environmental news.” Follow Grist on Facebook.
Tags: Africa, Ethiopia, water, drought, green, environment
