Ethiopia: reviving the land
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Dawit Sora, who saw the devastating effects of the East African drought on his community, is involved in a CAFOD project to revive the land and employ local people.
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"The land was so bare you could only see red earth"
“The land was so bare that you could only see red earth,” says Dawit Sora. “Now grass is growing and the land is reviving.”
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During the drought that hit East Africa in 2011, hundreds of thousands of animals died because of a lack of pasture and water. This had a devastating effect on pastoralist families, who relied on their animals for milk, food and as the main assets that they owned.
Working with local partners, we launched a “cash-for-work” project near Dawit’s village in Borena in southern Ethiopia. Individual villagers were paid in cash and food to improve the land, which will ensure that pasture is available for longer in future.
“The people who were selected weren’t getting any support from the government safety net programme or from other agencies. They were in dire need,” says Dawit. “The poorest of the poor were selected. These people had become penniless because of the drought.”
Through the project, local people created “soil bunds” – earth embankments that prevent water and the most fertile soil from being washed away – and planted trees. Because the area they worked on is protected from people and from animals, the land has been regenerated in a short space of time. When pasture becomes scarce in the dry season, they will be able to cut the grass and feed their cattle.
The people who took part received cash as well as beans and maize.
“The amount is not enough to rebuild their life,” says Dawit, “but at least it helped them to feed their families. Since the price of grain is high, distribution of grain was helpful for the families to get food.”
Another difficult year
The conservation work has improved the land, and ensured that at least some pasture is available – but the situation remains difficult, because the rains were again slow to arrive this year.
“The rain started very late,” says Dawit. “This should have been cultivation time but people are just ploughing. I am not hopeful that the crop will be ready for the people and it is frightening.
“The situation is not bad for the cattle, as the small rain has given them pasture, but I don’t think the rain is enough for the people to harvest what they sow.”
Despite the continuing struggles that the villagers face, Dawit is grateful for your support – and he believes that the project has made a big difference to the quality of the land.
“Without the intervention, the people would have been in a very bad shape and the land would also have been degraded further,” he says. “We would have left with only stones.”
