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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