It is to be remembered that Meles Zenawi once during a meeting told Addisu Legesse, the deputy prime minister and minister of agriculture: “an illiterate peasant is more effective than you.” The following report by the Woyanne’s web site, WIC, explains why.
Deputy Premier urges agricultural professionals, leadership to fulfill obligations in efforts to make poverty history
Addis Ababa, June 9 (WIC) – Agricultural professionals and leadership in the field are entrusted with great responsibility to realize the struggle waged to make poverty history, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development underscored.
The Minister Addisu Legesse said at the celebration of May 28 by the employees of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD) that agricultural experts and officials in the field shoulder huge responsibility so as achieve the goals of martyrs who scarified their lives to bring down the oppressive regime.
Though the major target of the martyrs is to depose the tyrant Derg regime, creating a prosperous and democratic nation is also their long-term mission from the outset. Promising beginnings have been witnessed in this regard over the past years, he added.
Agricultural professionals and officials in the field need to further enhance ongoing development works in the country by coordinating farmers and pastoralists as well as helping them to make use of agricultural technologies, the Deputy Prime Minister underlined.
The rising cost of living has reportedly been affecting the lives of each and every individual in the country, Addisu said further urging employees of the ministry to play a leading role for the realization of the agricultural policies and strategies.
EPRDF Joint Committee Chairman with MoARD, Dr. Berhe Gebre-Egziabher (a Woyanne who is Addisu’s puppet master), on his part urged all staff of the ministry to be in the forefront in the realization of the Business Process Reengineering (BPR) being implemented by the ministry.
It is a strange and unsettling ride west from the Ethiopian town of Shashamene. The fields are vibrant green. There is water in the creeks. The soil is a deep rich burgundy. However, the people here speak of a “green drought”. It is the time when the land is full of new shoots but there is no food. It happens because the last rains failed and few crops were planted. You can sense the desperation when you arrive in a village.
A crowd gathers quickly. Some hold up their children. They want us to see the distended stomachs which are one sign of hunger.
What we have seen in the villages is not famine but it is a crisis – some say tens of thousands of children are at risk
Agencies fear prices and drought
The parents hope that, by seeing, we will take their children to a treatment centre.
This happened in the village of Odo. A local priest had visited last week and had taken the most severely malnourished children for emergency care.
But others had been left behind, including a 12-year-old with shrunken limbs who suffered from malaria.
Walking for hours
It is hard to know the scale of this. For several hours this morning women walked into the tiny village of Garagoto.
Ethiopian child
Parents showed children’s distended stomachs to appeal for help
Most had young children slung on their backs.
Some were carried in bundles of cloth. All were sick. Some had the bloated faces of the severely malnourished. Others were covered in flies.
One of them, eight-year-old Tareking, was starving. His eyes sunken, his head swollen.
His mother had walked for several hours to bring him to a treatment centre. We all questioned whether it was too late for Tareking.
Another mother called Muner said she had walked for four hours to get help for her son Sparku.
“I was so tired, she said, and it was very difficult getting here. The cattle are dying and there is hunger.”
Challenge ahead
For a time, Ethiopia was associated with famine. The country has come a long way since then.
What we have seen in the villages is not famine – but it is a crisis.
Aid work in Ethiopia
Aid workers have helped hundreds of ill children
Some say tens of thousands of children are at risk. I can believe that.
We travelled through five or six villages. In every one were vulnerable children who will not survive until the next harvest without emergency food aid.
One aid agency has said there is not currently enough food in the country to meet this crisis.
I met Daniel Hadgu, who works for the International Medical Corps. He was clear that, without help, 50% of the most needy children would die.
We went to an emergency centre in the village of Eddu that was run by the Missionaries of Charity.
They have already cared for more than 400 of the most seriously ill children.
The vast majority survive but a few have died. Some are so weak and vulnerable that the slightest setback can be fatal.
And here lies the challenge: what will become of so many poor, frail children in the months ahead before the next harvest in early autumn.
ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia said on Monday it planned to produce biofuels to cut high oil import bills, but dismissed fears the strategy could hit food production in a country suffering a severe drought.
Some 4.5 million Ethiopians need emergency food aid due to failed rains and high food prices, reviving grim memories of the country’s 1984-1985 famine, which killed more than 1 million.
But the government also faces an annual fuel bill of up to $900 million, and aims to reduce that over time using biofuels.
“There is no shortage of agriculture land in Ethiopia for food production,” Melis Teka, coordinator of biofuel development in the Ministry of Mines and Energy, told Reuters.
“We have up to 23 million hectares which could be developed both for crops and biofuel. Biofuel plants are being developed on arid and barren land not suitable for food production.”
The government says it could make one billion litres of ethanol a year from four state-run sugar estates, and has also issued 37 licences to private investors to set up biofuel plants. The country also plans to produce biofuel from jatropha, castor beans and oil palm plantations.
“As the country accelerates its economic development, the demand for petroleum is anticipated to increase,” Melis said.
“The development of biofuel is expected to be an alternative source of energy to meet the anticipated demand.”
-Reuters
Reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse; Editing by Daniel Wallis
EUGENE — Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele, the man widely regarded as the best runner of all-time, thrilled a morning crowd of about 4,000 spectators with a world-record attempt in the 10,000 meters that was a mere eight seconds short.
Running in an outdoor meet in the United States for the first time, Bekele settled for the fourth-fastest time in history — 26 minutes, 25.97 seconds — and the fastest ever on U.S. soil by an astonishing 38 seconds.
“I’m satisfied,” said the soft-spoken Bekele after the race. “It was OK.” Just OK?
Watching from the stands, University of Oregon senior track team members Joaquin Chapa and Michael McGrath spoke on behalf of an appreciative crowd. Most had only seen Bekele run on television or YouTube.
“That’s what it’s supposed to look like,” Chapa said. “You hear of things he’s done but they’re always happening in a far off place so they don’t always seem real. To see him in person is amazing.”
Bekele went through the halfway point in 13:09 — two seconds off the Hayward Field record for 5,000 meters. Bekele, led by pacesetters that ushered him through 5,000 meters, stuck to a mind-bending pace for the remainder of the 25-lap (6.2 miles) race.
He said the pace got a little too slow around four kilometers and it was tough to get back on record pace.
“I did my best,” he said. “Around lap 18, 19, I was getting tired.”
Bekele’s effort made instant fans at Hayward Field and he enjoyed the reception he received.
“They were very nice. I want to thank them,” he said.
Bekele turns 26 on Friday. He has already won every major championship, including indoors and cross country, and owns the world record in the 5,000 as well. He said he simply wants to get better.
Eugene running fans can now decide for themselves whether he is the best.
“He is the Michael Jordan of distance running,” McGrath said.
The image of Bekele’s steadfast pace, simultaneously effortless and powerful, seemed to set off a torrent of inspired performances.
Although Ethiopian star Meseret Defar fell off the pace needed to put the 5,000-meter record for women into play, her time of 14:38.73 demolished the Hayward Field record of 15:06.53 set by Mary Decker-Slaney in 1985.
Defar was unimpressed with her own performance, particularly with early pace-setting that spoiled her chance to reclaim the world record she lost on Friday to Tirunesh Dibaba (14:11.15), her Ethiopian rival and teammate in Oslo, Norway.
Kara Goucher of Portland was third in 14:58.10, less than three seconds from her personal best but a strong gauge of her fitness leading up to the U.S. Olympic Trials later this month in Eugene.
“I’m pleased to run well. It was a good solid race and the fans here are amazing,” said Goucher, the 2007 bronze medalist at the World Championships. “But I would have liked to have run three or four seconds faster.”
Goucher, who has stated her goal of beating the U.S. record (14:44.80), was on an airplane to Portland when Dibaba’s world record happened. When she landed, her phone contained messages from people yelling about 14:11.
“(Defar and Dibaba are) amazing athletes and they make women’s running better and better and better and they keep raising the bar to where we stop putting boundaries on our minds,” Goucher said. “When a girl can run 14:11 and then say she can run faster, it’s a whole new day.”
After Bekele and Defar demonstrated their talents in the first two races of the day, hours before the televised portion of the Classic on NBC, eight developmental races filled the gap in the schedule.
Two Oregon high school runners used the opportunity to run in fast fields of older competitors.
Taylor Wallace of Klamath Falls’ Henley High School, a junior, ran the fastest 1,500 meters in 23 years by an Oregon prep: 4:28.79. She was ninth all-time in state history.
Lake Oswego junior Elijah Greer improved upon his 800-meter best, finishing second in his race in 1:50.31 — fourth all-time and a junior class record.
Later, the Hayward Field record in the 800 fell. Alfred Kirwa Yego of Kenya ran 1:44.01 to take down a facility record on the books since the 1972 Olympic Trials.
Oregon recruit Luke Puskedra, a high school runner from Utah, finished last in the men’s two-mile in 8:46.41 — a time that ranks 14th all-time among preps nationally. Up front, world championships gold medalist Bernard Lagat defeated a star-studded international field that included Kenyan Paul Koech and Australian Craig Mottram.
“Overwhelming,” Puskedra said. “Being with all the pros was definitely surreal.”
Oklahoma State Senate unanimously passed Resolution on Ethiopia. All Republicans came on board. As you may know, Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma personally tried to intervene and kill the Resolution as he is still trying to kill HR 2003.
The passage of the Resolution unanimously by the higher legislative chamber (State Senate), despite Sen. Inhofe’s effort, could prove problematic as he is running for reelection in November 2008.
Our Oklahoma colleagues deserve a special recognition for the extraordinary achievement.
BORDEAUX, FRANCE — The Castel Group, France’s largest wine producer, is starting wine production in Ethiopia.
The group is planting grapes on 125ha of farmland in Zewey, 200km south of the capital Addis Ababa. A further 175ha is available for further planting in the future.
The land has been acquired from the Ethiopian state which, as Castel communications director Franck Crouset told decanter.com, ‘invited us to produce locally-grown, quality wines, to help revitalise their wine industry.’
Castel expects to invest around US$4.2m in planting the vines this year, and the same amount again in constructing a winery and vinification facilities in 2009.
The trading name will be Castel Winery Private Ltd Company.
The grapes are all international varieties: 40% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Syrah and 10% Chardonnay. Over 750,000 vines will be planted.
The first of Castel’s Ethiopian wines are expected to be released by 2011, and will target the local market as well as neighbouring African states such as Uganda, Sudan and Kenya, with expected exports of around 50% of production.
Castel’s decision to open in Ethiopia came about following president Pierre Castel’s meeting with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi during a visit to the country in January 2007.
The project should create permanent employment for several hundred local people. There is a history of wine production in Ethiopia, but the industry entered a period of decline after wineries were nationalised by the military regime and production facilities not upgraded.
Crouzet added, ‘We hope to revitalise the local wine production, as well as cementing our own presence in the highly important African market.’
Currently, the Castel Group owns 1500ha of vineyards across Africa, with 240ha in Tunisia and 1,500ha in Morocco.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Last week, it was beer, and now wine. Is investment on alcoholic beverages what Ethiopia needs at this moment when close to 10 million of her people are dying of starvation? What kind of callous, moronic people are these investors who are using scarce water and fertile lands to grow crops and grapes for producing beer and wine? They are not thinking, or may be they don’t care any more than Addisu Legesse, the dummy who is in charge of the government’s agriculture policy in Ethiopia.
It is a strange and unsettling ride west from the Ethiopian town of Shashamene. The fields are vibrant green. There is water in the creeks. The soil is a deep rich burgundy. However, the people here speak of a “green drought”. It is the time when the land is full of new shoots but there is no food. It happens because the last rains failed and few crops were planted. You can sense the desperation when you arrive in a village.