Ethiopian farmers facing conflict and drought
What is 'food resilience'? Ask these Ethiopian farmers facing conflict and drought
As the shadows lengthen over the village of Tuli Guleed in the Somali region of southern Ethiopia, Halemu Hassan Ali and her husband, Elias Abdi Abdullahi, move methodically through row after row of knee-high wheat. Pulling up weeds that encroach on their precious crop is physically demanding. Both of them hunch low but move swiftly, their easy chatter belies the seriousness of this task.
For in Ethiopia, a country repeatedly wracked by hunger — where more than 20 million citizens rely on some form of food assistance — crop yields for the couple's family are more than a matter of mere metrics. They could ultimately mean the difference between life and death. Bolstering their homegrown food supply could both wean them from costly food assistance and strengthen their long-term economic well-being.