- Title: ETHIOPIA: ETHIOPIAN FARMERS HOPE RAINY SEASON WILL HELP THEIR HARVESTS
- Date: 18th July 2003
- Summary: (W5) ALABA, ETHIOPIA (JULY 19, 2003) (REUTERS ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUSM TEKTEL WORDOFU, FARMER WHIPPING HIS OXEN AS HE PLOUGHS HIS LAND (3 SHOTS) 0.20 2. VARIOUS OF WORDOFU PLOUGHING HIS LAND (2 SHOTS) 0.41 3. SCU SOUNDBITE)(Amharic) ETHIOPIAN FARMER, TEKTEL WORDOFU SAYING: "Whether it is useful or not, I just need to work. It's not useful at all - but instead of just seating around, we think it is better to do some work even if it is not profitable." 1.12 4. LOW SHOT OF OXEN PLOUGHING LAND AS WORDOFU WHIPS THEM 1.19 5. SCU SOUNDBITE)(Amharic) ETHIOPIAN FARMER, TEKTEL WORDOFU SAYING: "If I start saying this is useless, then I stay at home, how will that help me? It is just better to do something that will help me a bit. Working on this land requires at least 100 Birr and the land isn't mine everybody knows that the economy in this country is very bad. If I plant wheat I will get at least one bag from here not more." 1.50 (W5) NAZARETH, ETHIOPIA (JULY 18, 2003)(REUTERS ACCESS ALL) 6. WIDE OF FARMERS PLOUGHING LAND USING OXEN 1.59 7. SMV OF ETHIOPIA COUNTRY DIRECTOR OF USAID, MARY LEWELLEN 2.03 8. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(English) ETHIOPIA COUNTRY DIRECTOR OF THE UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (USAID), MARY LEWELLEN SAYING: "They've got a rough life is what I would say. They are hardworking, they are diligent they are dedicated I mean even when they know their crop has failed they will go out there and plant again and again and again. And that's part of the problem that they are facing this year. Last year they planted three-four and five times in order to have a harvest they went through all of their seeds. So the government was faced with an issue this year that the farmers, no longer had seeds." 2.31 (W5) OGOLCHA WOREDA, ETHIOPIA (JULY 18, 2003)(REUTERS ACCESS ALL) 9. WIDE OF CROWD OF PEOPLE AT SEED DISTRIBUTION CENTRE 2.39 10. WIDE OF MEN CARRYING A SACK OF SEEDS 2.44 11. WIDE OF PEOPLE GETTING RATIONS OF SEEDS 2.50 12. WIDE OF WOMEN BENEFICIARIES OF SEEDS 2.54 13. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(Oromigna) SEED BENEFICIARY, SHUKARAY YUSUF SAYING: "I am poor - I prepared my field, but because of lack of seed I couldn't sow my field so after I got this seed I was happy because I can sow my field." 3.03 (W5) WONDO GENNET, ETHIOPIA (JULY 20, 2003) (REUTERS ACCESS ALL) 14. PAN OF CORN FIELD WITH FLOWERING CORN CROP 3.12 15. CLOSE UP OF CORN CROP WITH IMMATURE CORN ON STALKS 3.17 16. WIDE OF DISASTER PREVENTION AND PREPAREDNESS COMMISSION (DPPC) COMMISSIONER, SIMON MECHALE AND REPORTER 3.19 17. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(English) DISASTER PREVENTION AND PREPAREDNESS COMMISSION (DPPC) COMMISSIONER, SIMON MECHALE, SAYING: "Population is danger when the great majority cannot feed itself. So this is where we are." 3.30 18. WIDE OF SETTLEMENT AREA 3.35 19. SLV OF MOTHER AND HER FAMILY COOKING SOME FOOD 3.40 20. VARIOUS OF FAMILY PREPARING MEAL (3 SHOTS) 3.54 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 2nd August 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ALABA,/NAZARETH/OGOLCHA WOREDA/ WONDO GENNET, ETHIOPIA
- Country: Ethiopia
- Reuters ID: LVA4EL8L76CZRO2BITWZCHYXDV5H
- Story Text: Despite recent seasons of erratic rainfall which have
resulted in crop failure and food shortages, Ethiopian farmers
are cultivating their land and hope that the rainy season
which began in June will last until September as they are
supposed to.
With every crack of his whip Tektel Wordofo's two oxen
struggle with the arduous task of ploughing nearly a quarter
hectare of land.
The oxen are skinny, due to a drought that has engulfed
the country over the years and as a result, Wordofo's whip is
harsher than it should be. And so the oxen will struggle under
their master's whip and under a burdensome yoke for the day.
With four children and a wife at home, and not much to
eat, all Wordofo can do is plough this land with the hope that
he will reap some grain.
18 year-old Wordofo has borrowed this land from his
neighbour who had no grain this year, and who could not afford
100 Birr (USD 12) to hire oxen to till his land. They made an
agreement that they will share whatever produce they reap.
Wordofo is among thousands of farmers in Ethiopia who are
ploughing their land this season with the hope that the rains
will come and that they can reap enough food to last them the
next season.
But it's hard to be optimistic when you are a farmer in
Ethiopia.
"Whether it is useful or not, I just need to work. It's
not useful at all - but instead of just seating around, I
think it is better to do some work even if it is not
profitable," says Wordofo.
Wordofo thinks all he will get from this task is a bag of
wheat, which will last his family and the land owner, nearly
one week.
"If I start saying this is useless, then I stay at home,
how will that help me? It is just better to do something that
will help me a bit. Working on this land requires at least 100
Birr and the land isn't mine. Everybody knows that the economy
in this country is very bad. If I plant wheat I will get at
least one bag from here not more," says Wordofo.
Across the southern regions of Ethiopia, hundreds of other
farmers are tilling their land - with the same thought as that
of Wordofo in their hearts.
Farmers in Ethiopia are an unhappy lot. They do not own
their land. A land reform of 1975, resulted in the government
owning the entire land in the country. Some analysts argue
that tenure insecurity has contributed to low rural
productivity because farmers are unwilling to invest in land
that is not really theirs and could be taken away from them.
But farmers are now being encouraged to invest more
heavily in the farms.
"They've got a rough life is what I would say. They are
hardworking, they are diligent they are dedicated - I mean
even when they know their crop has failed they will go out
there and plant again and again and again. And that's part of
the problem that they are facing this year. Last year they
planted three-four and five times in order to have a harvest
they went through all of their seeds. So the government was
faced with an issue this year that the farmers, no longer had
seeds," says Mary Lewellen, from the United States Agency for
International Development, USAID.
USAID has tried to help farmers by funding seed
distribution through different aid agencies working in
different regions in Ethiopia.
At one seed distribution point, farmers benefited from
tef, wheat and haricot beans, which they could use for this
season's crop.
"I am poor - I prepared my field, but because of lack of
seed I couldn't sow my field so after I got this seed I was
happy because I can sow my field," said Shukaray Yusuf, a seed
beneficiary, and a farmer.
After the farmers sow their seed all they can hope for is
a yield that will not grow stunted in the fields. Some of the
corn-fields like this one are stunted, due to the erratic
rainfall this season. Aid agencies say that Ethiopia is going
through a "Green Famine", because many areas are so green,
though there is going to be a crop failure.
Ethiopia's Disaster Prevention and Preparedness
Commission (DPPC) says that other than the erratic rainfall,
the numbers of people in the country with nothing to eat has
posed a problem. "Population is danger when the great majority
cannot feed itself. So this is where we are," says Simon
Mechale, DPPC Commissioner.
But as long as the erratic rains continue, and as long
as development issues remain un-addressed, Ethiopia's
population of nearly 58 million, may continue to rely on food
aid in the coming years.
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