Fortunately most of us in our country have not experienced hunger, much less starvation. Some of us will remember all of the media attention given globally to the terrible famine in Ethiopia in the mid-1980’s leaving 1.2 million dead. Earlier than that, in 1976, amid growing world food emergencies, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) created a pilot project to allow Canadian grain farmers to share their harvests with those less fortunate around the world. In 1983, the project was re-organized, opened to other church agencies, and re-established as the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB). In 1984, the United Church of Canada joined the program along with 14 other churches. Not only was CFGB able to make a significant contribution in helping to end the Ethiopia famine in 1984, but it also has continued to address the problem of hunger in Ethiopia. Initially farmers from Canada sent grain. But a better solution was developed by working directly with farmers in Ethiopia to increase crop yields.
The Nov 2018 issue of Farm Focus had an article about NB farmers growing grain to help end world hunger. The paragraph that moved us to action read this way. “Once a year Canada Foodgrains Bank (CFGB) offers a tour to an African country. Countries visited have included Rwanda, Malawi and Kenya. A return trip to Ethiopia is slated for January 2019.” Google quickly located for us the phone number for the CFGB head office in Winnipeg and yes, there were two spaces available for the 10 day tour of project work in Ethiopia. We had no hesitation in signing up. Having spent April 2017 in Ethiopia’s capital city of Addis Ababa as Canadian Executive Service Organization (CESO) volunteers and working with two groups of small business women entrepreneurs there, we had no hesitation about going. We truly love Ethiopia and welcomed this new opportunity.
It was our responsibility to get to Ethiopia where we would join the farm tour. The flight to Addis from Toronto is 13 hours direct. Coming back is 17 hours with a refueling stop in Dublin. The altitude in Addis, 2300 meters, affects the amount of fuel they can put into the airplane. We would have 10 days with CFGB on the project work tour. Then we would extend our stay in Addis so as to meet with several of the participants from our Marketing Workshops there in 2017.
Most of the CFGB group arrived together at Bole Airport in Addis early Sunday morning. There was little rest for the weary. Sleep-no. We must force ourselves to adapt quickly to the 6 hour time difference after the 13 hour flight. Sam Vander Ende, the Field Representative for CFGB was ready for an orientation meeting that afternoon. Sam began his work with CFGB in Ethiopia 29 years ago. He is fluent in the Amharic language, an excellent organizer, tour guide, resource person and friend.
Over the 10 day period we enjoyed getting to know the other 11 people on the tour. There were farmers from Manitoba and Saskatchewan (all CFGB grain growers), a baker from PEI, two CFGB representatives from head office in Winnipeg and ourselves. During the 10 days we certainly developed a special bond with these folks. Each morning we took turns giving a morning devotion and each evening met to reflect on the day. Great comradery!
On Monday, Martha from ‘Desert Rose’ facilitated an all-day orientation session on Ethiopian culture, including perspectives on poverty. Tuesday three Toyota Land Cruisers and as it turned out their excellent drivers all were ready to take us comfortably to the project sites. As an indication of the distance travelled, on three of the ten days we were 8+ hours of driving. Certainly, there was much interesting country side to see and always time for a nice lunch break often featuring their traditional Ethiopian dish ‘Injera’. The chosen route took us north from Addis, first to Debre Markos, then Debre Tabor and finally to Lalibela. Other than the last half- day to Lalibela, the roads overall were mostly paved and quite good throughout.
The problem for the people of Ethiopia comes when food from the last harvest runs out. Often times food harvested by the family tends to last 8 months, leaving the family hungry for 4 months of the year. This is called Food Insecurity. CFGB works through organizations on the ground to help alleviate Food Insecurity. First they go into the community to assess the need. Then an implementation plan is developed in association with a local organization that will assume responsibility for managing the project. The plan will identify farmers who want to participate, methods to be followed, develop schedules for training and monitoring, etc.
This program is funded by member-agencies, individuals, congregations, companies and community growing projects. The Canadian Government matches funds at a ratio of 4 to 1 for every dollar raised by the program. Emphasis is given to using cropping techniques that are often referred to as Conservation Agriculture. This method of crop farming is based on minimal soil disturbance, suitable crop rotations, use of mulching and cover crops to improve soil health. The results have been seen as a doubling of yields in the areas where these techniques have been adopted. What better way is there to address hunger than by helping farmers improve farming techniques by which to better feed their families?
Conservation Farming techniques also serve to alleviate problems locally that are associated with soil erosion. The worst affected areas are identified and plans are made to address the problem: for example; tree planting, check dams, water containment and redirection of water. The tree plantings not only better hold soil in place but also help to retain the water run-off for improved water absorption by the soil. Instead of a hard pack soil that does not absorb water, mulch is able to add organic matter and allow for a soil structure better able to hold and retain moisture for crop use. When farmers experience the success associated with these techniques, they share the news with other farmers who want to adopt the new methods (extension model). Government eventually comes on board. We saw real contrasts between traditionally farmed land vs land farmed using Conservation Farming. Leguminous trees, bushes and plants are used to improve soil fertility.
During our tour we saw 3 projects that are resulting in improved food security for the families of participating farmers. CFGB did 117 projects in 34 countries April 2017-March 2018. Of the 13 projects in Ethiopia we saw 3. We were in the fields, the homes, the project offices. What are they saying? There is HOPE.
Are Other Farmers Adapting The Conservation Farming Methods?
MSCFSO/CFGB Project Debre Marcos Ethiopia Feb 5 2019
Script from this movie clip:
Sam Vander
Ende, Ethiopian Regional Rep for CFGB asks, “Scaling up the project, at some point you have
a threshold of adaptors, then it will be spontaneously adopted by the
community. What evidence do you see so
far of the 10-12 years that we have been engaged in watershed rehabilitation
that the communities where you have been that they are now doing their own
watershed rehabilitation”.
Yihenew,
MSCFSO Program Director responds: ”Good
question. Very difficult to address all
the areas which are affected by land derogation. If you group the highland areas, most of the
farmers are totally covering the land with trees. You go to other areas and farmers are taking
their soil to the market. So our
objective is to show.”
“We can visit the first project we started in 2008. We are the one who first started such works
and we got the Green Award from the President.
So subsequently in the water shed area.
The community developed a sense of ownership. That is one of the indications of what we
have seen.”
Sam: How long did you support it?
Yihenew:
“Until they were ready to spread their wings. One project, 3-4 years. All you can do is show
the farmers how to improve their livelihood starting from their soil. After that the government can replicate to
other areas.”
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