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  Mohammed Abdu is a 61 years old farmer living in Jari village, Tehuledere district in South Wollo zone, Ethiopia. He does farming for a living.  Like most people living in rural areas, Mohammed’s parents were farmers, and he grew up supporting his family since  his childhood. He followed in his parent’s footsteps and became a farmer.   Mr Mohammed said that he once stopped farming and started working on other business. But his business  did not go as planned, and he  got back to farming when he got a piece of land from the government.   The land he received from the government was very small, degraded and rocky. His plot is located in the hillside right next to a river which makes it vulnerable to soil erosion. Mr Mohammed said that he couldn’t grow crops in his degraded land and he had to look for options to revitalise his plot. Soil conservation and reforestation works were among his plans to rehabilitate his plot. In the year 2013, Mr Mohammed was one of the beneficiaries who re

  Fekadu Kebede is a smallholder farmer living in Medagudina village of Walmera district in Oromia region, Ethiopia. Farming is the mainstay for his family. He grows vegetables, cereal crops, fruits and medicinal herbs in his farm which is close to one hectare. He inherited the farm from his parents who have been farming for several years using conventional farming practice with the use of agrochemicals for plant protection and soil fertility enhancement purposes. Mr Fekadu has been implementing the conventional farming he learned from his parents until he attended, for the first time, a training on Ecological Organic Agriculture organised by the Institute for Sustainable Development in the year 2015 with supports from SDC and SSNC. After he took part in the training, he became formally involved in the practical and field based training sessions organised for farmers in his village. He was receiving regular follow up visit and support by ISD’s field officer based in Holeta. Mr Feka

  ተፈጥሮ የራሷን ሚዛን የምትጠብቅበት የተለያዩ መንገዶች አሏት፡፡ በውስጧ አቅፋ የያዘቻቸው ከትልልቅ እንስሳት እስከ ትንንሽ ነፍሳት ያሉ ፍጥረታት በአዳኝና ታዳኝ፤ በበይና ተበይ ግንኙነት ተመስርቶ የሁለቱም ጎራ እንስሳትና ነፍሳት ቁጥር አንዴ ከፍ፤ አንዴ ደግሞ ዝቅ እያለ የበይና ተበይ የምግብ ሰንሰለት ከዚያም ከፍ ሲል የምግብ መረብን በመስራት ተፈጥሮ ሚዛኗን ጠብቃ እንድትቀጥል ከፍተኛ ሚና ይጫወታሉ፡፡ ህይወት ያላቸው ነገሮች እርስ በራሳቸውና ህይወት ከሌላቸው ነገሮች ጋር የሚያደርጉት ጣልቃ ገብነት የሌለበት መስተጋብር ብዝሃ-ህይወትን አቅፎ በመያዝ የስነ-ምህዳርን ጤነኝነት የሚያረጋግጥ ሂደት ነው፡፡ በሰፊው ስነ-ምህዳር ውስጥ የሚገኙ ሂደታቸው የተስተካከለ ጤናማ ስርዓተ-ምህዳሮች ተፈጥሮ ሚዛኗ እንዳይዛባ ጉልህ ሚና የሚጫወቱ የእናት መሬት ታላቅ ስጦታዎች ናቸው፡፡ የሰው ልጅ መሰረታዊ የሆኑ ፍላጎቶቹን ለማሟላት በሚያደርጋቸው የየእለት ተግባራት እና ኢኮኖሚያዊ እድገትን ለማምጣት የሚደረግ ግብግቦች የተፈጥሮ ሚዛን በማዛባት በኢኮኖሚ እድገትና በጤናማ ስነ-ምህዳር መካከል የተፈከተ ጦርነት እየሆነ መጣ፡፡ የተፈጥሮ ሚዛንን ከሚያዛቡ የኢኮኖሚ እንቅስቃሴዎች ግብርና አንዱ ሲሆን በተለይም ደግሞ ለአፈር ለምነት መጨመሪያ እና ለተባይ መከላከያ የሚውሉ ሰው ሰራሽ የሆኑ ግብዓቶችን በብዛትና በአይነት የሚጠቀም የግብርና ስርዓት በዋናነት ይጠቀሳል፡፡ ከዚህ በተቃራኒ ደግሞ፤ ስርዓተ-ምህዳሩ በተጠበቀ አካባቢ የሚተገበር ግብርና ተፈጥሮአዊ የሆኑ የአፈር ለምነት መጠበቂያ እና የተባይ መከላከል ግልጋሎቶችን ያገኛል፡፡ በግብርና ስርዓት ውስጥ ለምርት መቀነስ ምክንያት በቀዳሚነት የሚጠቀሱትን ሰብል አውዳሚ ተባዮች ጤናማ የግብርና ስርዓተ-ምህዳርን በመገንባት የሚያስከትሉት

  When properly managed and wisely used; exchange visits are key for sharing knowledge, experience, and good practices.  Ecological Organic Agriculture is a knowledge intensive agricultural process in which farmers, extension officers, students and other practitioners can learn from each other as the process is going. Farmer to farmer, farmers to extension agents, farmers to students and vice versa, exchanges can help improve small producers’ technical and organisational capacities. It provides opportunities to learn from each other, customise, and adopt successful farming practices and techniques. In November 2020, the Institute for Sustainable Development ( https://www.isd-bio.org/ ), Green Flower Foundation ( https://greenflowerfoundation.org/ ) and Pesticide Action Nexus-Ethiopia brought together organic vegetable grower farmers, extension agents, organic horticulture students and instructors in a learning exchange to share experiences and practices that can help each parties learn

The Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) initiative is led by the African Union and was started in 2013. It aims to establish an African organic farming platform based on available best practices and to develop sustainable organic farming systems. The EOA project being implemented in 9 African countries including Ethiopia, promotes ecologically sound strategies and practices among diverse stakeholders in production, processing, marketing and policy making to safeguard the environment, improve livelihoods, alleviate poverty and guarantee food security and nutrition security. An outstanding work has been done in Ethiopia by different pillar implementing partners in conducting studies, promoting innovative organic farming practices, putting participatory extension systems and training approaches in place, and creating market linkages for farmers which helped them get better profits from organic premium prices. As part of the project, the information and communication team have been publis

Shitu Huba is a 45 years old smallholder farmer who lives in Holeta, Oromia region of Ethiopia. She has eight children, and she is the head of the family. Farming is the livelihood for her family. She grows cereals, fruits and vegetables both for consumption of her family and as a means of cash income. “My parents were farmers, and I grew up watching and exercising farming, which made things easier for my farming today” said Shitu when she spoke about her farming experiences. She practices mixed farming with both crop production and livestock rearing going side by side.  She uses her compound for a complex set of function including the production of diversified home garden vegetables. She uses manure from her livestock, poultry droppings, and remains of animal feed as inputs for her compost set in her backyard. “Anything compostable goes to my compost pit” said Shitu when explaining about her compost preparation. Farmyard manure and compost are the main inputs she uses to enhance soil

It was November 2016, the spring, the season every part of Ethiopia blossoms with flowers from wild plants, shining beauty from a mosaic of smallholder plots planted with different crop types and varieties of the same crop species and the greenery across the different landscapes and Agro-ecological zones. A team of experts of Agro-ecology from all over Africa came to Ethiopia to take part in the “Community Seed Knowledge” workshop organised by African Biodiversity Network (ABN) and the Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD). The workshop was held in Dessie, a city located 400 km North East of the Ethiopian capital – Addis Ababa. On the day we drove to Dessie; we stopped in a small village in Harbu district of South Wollo Zone, one of the sorghum growing areas, and met smallholder farmers who have been involved in community seed bank project run by Ethio Organic Seed Action – an NGO working to save indigenous seeds. As we stopped by the roadside and got off our bus; the farme

Ecological organic agriculture operates based on ecosystem functions. It embraces indigenous knowledge of local people, innovations and scientifically researched findings. In the areas where the EOA project implemented, there are several successes achieved on the production and establishment of market linkages. Follow the link below to listen to the success story of farmers in Dessie area, Ethiopia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEgsa-KDsX0&t=10s

The year 2020 came with a pandemic which posed a threat to the very survival of human beings in the planet's face. The pandemic started in china and spread worldwide like a wind assisted wild fire – reaching every corner of the world. It caused millions of infections and hundreds of thousands of deaths throughout the world. It has forced governments to order total lockdowns, forced events that require public gatherings to be cancelled – including the famous European sport competitions and the Olympics. Since its first detection on March 13, 2020, 261 people were infected, with 5 deaths to date, with COVID-19 in Ethiopia. The pandemic caused huge socio-economic problems worldwide, one of which being food production and distribution. This will cause food shortage unless ways are devised to tackle the problem – with safety precautions recommended by WHO practiced to stay safe and productive. Amides the COVID-19 situation, a report came out in Ethiopia stating that the government

His name is Alemu Asalefew - a 65-year-old man living in the heart of Addis Ababa. He has a small space in his backyard and uses it to grow different vegetables types including tomato, lettuce, pepper, kale, Swiss chard, beetroot, cabbage etc. “Seeing the vegetables grow from day to-day makes me feel happy beyond the food production” says Mr Alemu when asked about how important gardening is for him. One morning, we went to visit him and we found him in his backyard assessing his vegetables and he said “this is where you will find me if I am not in the house”. His main means of keeping his garden fertile is by preparing compost from compostable household waste, and his backyard looks so fertile. He showed us his composting pit, and he also said that he visited a vermicomposting and he is keen to try them in his garden with conventional composting side by side. His vegetables look so clean with no sign of pest and disease attack. When asked if pest and disease are challenges fo

Agriculture is one of humankind's most basic activities which strives to fulfil people’s need to nourish themselves daily with healthy and nutritious food. As production systems, organic agriculture acknowledges the interconnectedness of human health, the natural world, and agricultural which have to operate with a healthy interaction amongst themselves. Hence, it relies on healthy ecological processes, biodiversity and cycle of interactions. The production system depends on the link between tradition, innovation and science. Below are few reasons to go for the production and consumption of organic: Organically grown food is healthy and is free from residues of toxic chemicals. Studies also showed that organic food has high content antioxidants.   Promotes the use of natural soil fertility enhancement and plant protection techniques are in harmony with nature Production system is knowledge intensive which promotes the use of local and indigenous knowledge Don’t pollu