From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Fri Feb 27 2009 - 06:59:41 EST
How the humble Irish potato saved a village
By Alan O'Keeffe
Friday, February 27 2009
Irish expertise in growing potatoes is helping to replace hunger with hope in Ethiopia.
The humble spud that symbolised Irish cuisine for generations is spearheading dramatic increases in food production in a land stalked by starvation.
Farmers in the northern province of Tigray were advised by Irish researchers to experiment with planting potatoes as an alternative to more traditional crops like maize.
Amazing results were achieved when fields produced 10 times more food.
Famine
"Now we can eat three meals a day," said delighted farmer Ato Kidanu Godmay (61) during a visit to the Debrekidan district by Overseas Development Minister Peter Power.
Irish Aid, the Third World development agency run by the Government and funded by Irish taxpayers, helped to set up an agricultural research centre in the province which suffered terribly in the devastating famine in the 1980s.
Irrigation projects helped transform dry sandy areas into fertile and productive land. Ethiopian farm advisers and graduate students from University College, Cork, participated in the research. Success was achieved through assisting local farmers in experimenting with different crops and farming methods.
Minister Power stood among the farmers in the open air and pledged Ireland's continued support to their efforts to ward off hunger. He said it was ironic that the potato was playing such a big role in fighting hunger in the former famine area as Irish people were very conscious that the potato and its problems was central to the great Irish famine of the 1840s.
Ethiopian farmers were learning to grow a wide range of crops with Irish help.
The minister, speaking later to the Herald in Northern Ethiopia, said the €95m drop in funding for anti-poverty strategies was not a sign that the Government was less committed to the work of Irish Aid.
His face-to-face encounters with large numbers of Ethiopians working in anti-hunger projects had strengthened his resolve that Ireland would not abandon the successful work of Irish Aid in helping the poorest of the poor in Africa, he said.
The Government is spending €796m on Irish Aid projects this year instead of the planned €891m. But the Irish people wanted the work of Irish Aid to continue strongly, he said.
During his visit, the minister toured health, agriculture, education, and anti-hunger projects supported by Irish taxpayers in northern Ethiopia.
Among those in the crowd to greet him was a divorced mother-of-three whose difficult life was being transformed by the help of Irish Aid. Kidane (30), who is raising three young sons in a district where food supplies can be threatened by drought, was among several local people who welcomed the Irish minister to a Productive Safety Net project in Magab.
She told the Herald she was grateful for the chance to earn cash in return for labouring on community development projects supported by Irish Aid.
Livestock
While she grows food on her small farm, she also spends 15 days a month helping to build terraces on mountain sides which prevent valuable soil being washed away.
The guarantee of cash-for-work each month means that if drought conditions return she and her children will not face with starvation.
Small farmers hit by drought often sell their livestock in order to survive but this affects their future ability to make a living. But with the cash safety net, she knows she will not have to sell her livestock. The cash income means her sons can go to school instead of working to stave off hunger.
At one safety net worksite, labourers and local priests performed a colourful Dance of Praise for the minister. When informed they were dancing in praise, the minister quipped: "I wouldn't get this back home."