Many towns in Ethiopia seem to be bursting with too many young people. Mekelle is one of them, but it is not the only town by any stretch of the imagination. Shashemene, Hawassa and Bahir Dar are in the same league. Those of us, who had lived in any of the places at one time or another, find it nostalgically disconcerting that nobody seems to know us any more.
On the other hand, everything is not black and white and this is one of them. In Japan the demographics is so skewed towords an aging population that most people are made to stay on and work. The boomer population in the United States, who are in their sixties are into retirement that innumerable studies are being conducted to cater to their well being, thanks they have the money. In Ethiopia, mandatory retirement ages change from government to government. The reasons mostly had to do with politics, ideology and perhaps, BPR too.
Adama town is a crowded place, at least the main streets are. Like other crowded towns across the nation, the population bulge is supposed to being caused by constant immigration both from near and far.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Friday, February 18, 2005
Ingera
Ingera is made from a cereal grain that is unique known as Tef. Though tef is unique to Ethiopia it is diverse in colour and habitat. Tef is a member of the grass genus Eragrostis or lovegrass. Tef will grow in many areas, even if it is not an easy crop to farm. One problem in particular is that the weight of the grain bends the stem to the ground.
Ingera, is the staple food of the Ethiopian. Tef is nutritional miracle food. It contains two to three times the iron of wheat or barley. The calcium, potassium and other essential minerals are also many times what would be found in an equal amount of other grains. Tef has 14% protein, 3% fat and 81% complex carbohydrate.
Tef is the only grain to have symbiotic yeast. Like grapes, the yeast is on the grain so no yeast is added in the preparation of ingera.
Tef is milled to flour and made into batter. The batter is allowed to sit so the yeast can become active. When the batter is ready it is poured on a large flat oven and allowed to cook. This process is much harder than it sounds and it is recommended buying from an Ethiopian Market or Restaurant.
Ingera, is the staple food of the Ethiopian. Tef is nutritional miracle food. It contains two to three times the iron of wheat or barley. The calcium, potassium and other essential minerals are also many times what would be found in an equal amount of other grains. Tef has 14% protein, 3% fat and 81% complex carbohydrate.
Tef is the only grain to have symbiotic yeast. Like grapes, the yeast is on the grain so no yeast is added in the preparation of ingera.
Tef is milled to flour and made into batter. The batter is allowed to sit so the yeast can become active. When the batter is ready it is poured on a large flat oven and allowed to cook. This process is much harder than it sounds and it is recommended buying from an Ethiopian Market or Restaurant.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
ETHIOPIA: Cereal food prices to rise despite good harvest
ADDIS ABABA, 25 Jan 2005 (IRIN) - Poor families in Ethiopia could be hit by unusually high cereal prices, according to a report by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net).
Current high prices could be pushed up even further by local purchase of food aid that is planned for this year, the USAID-funded FEWS Net said on 20 January. The high prices, it added, had come as a surprise to many aid organisations because it comes on the heels of reports of a bumper harvest in the country.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP), this year's harvest is expected to be 10 percent higher than last year's.
FAO and WFP are predicting a harvest in the area of 14 million mt of cereals - close to a 23 percent increase from the past five-year average - and following last year's robust harvest.
Traditionally, the price of cereals - the main food supply in Ethiopia - drops at this time of year because it is the main harvest period. However, current maize prices are around US $170 per mt - compared with previous years of $105 per mt.
"If these higher level stable prices persist, the on-going local purchase of food aid activities may further increase prices and, hence, there will be an obvious disadvantage for poor households, with limited means to access food in the market," said FEWS Net.
The government and donor organisations had been looking at local purchases of food for the safety-net programme, aimed at supporting five million people. It is estimated more than 200,000 mt of food aid may be purchased locally this year as part of the safety-net programme.
In December, the government appealed for 387,000 mt of emergency food aid to feed 2.2 million people. Aid organisations and donors, like the European Union, often argue that local purchases of food aid are far better than shipping in food aid, as it stimulates the local economy.
The FAO said they were unaware of what was keeping prices high.
"The price increase is positive for the farmers," said Luciano Mosele, the emergency head with the FAO in Addis Ababa. "Unless prices keep relatively high, people are not compensated for their work and production will never increase."
Production levels had been hit in recent years because prices plummeted after bumper harvests and farmers lost money and cut production the following year.
Current high prices could be pushed up even further by local purchase of food aid that is planned for this year, the USAID-funded FEWS Net said on 20 January. The high prices, it added, had come as a surprise to many aid organisations because it comes on the heels of reports of a bumper harvest in the country.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP), this year's harvest is expected to be 10 percent higher than last year's.
FAO and WFP are predicting a harvest in the area of 14 million mt of cereals - close to a 23 percent increase from the past five-year average - and following last year's robust harvest.
Traditionally, the price of cereals - the main food supply in Ethiopia - drops at this time of year because it is the main harvest period. However, current maize prices are around US $170 per mt - compared with previous years of $105 per mt.
"If these higher level stable prices persist, the on-going local purchase of food aid activities may further increase prices and, hence, there will be an obvious disadvantage for poor households, with limited means to access food in the market," said FEWS Net.
The government and donor organisations had been looking at local purchases of food for the safety-net programme, aimed at supporting five million people. It is estimated more than 200,000 mt of food aid may be purchased locally this year as part of the safety-net programme.
In December, the government appealed for 387,000 mt of emergency food aid to feed 2.2 million people. Aid organisations and donors, like the European Union, often argue that local purchases of food aid are far better than shipping in food aid, as it stimulates the local economy.
The FAO said they were unaware of what was keeping prices high.
"The price increase is positive for the farmers," said Luciano Mosele, the emergency head with the FAO in Addis Ababa. "Unless prices keep relatively high, people are not compensated for their work and production will never increase."
Production levels had been hit in recent years because prices plummeted after bumper harvests and farmers lost money and cut production the following year.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Plan launched to help orphans
ADDIS ABABA, 14 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - One Ethiopian child out of 10 is an orphan, a report by the UN, the government and the NGO, Save the Children, said. The HIV/AIDS pandemic, appalling poverty and dire health conditions had left 4.6 million youngsters without parents, it added.
"Ethiopia is facing a crisis of orphans," Bjorn Ljungqvist, head of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Ethiopia, said at the launch of a national action plan to help children who have been orphaned and better protect them from HIV/AIDS.
Hassen Abdella, minister of Labour and Social Affairs, said the scale of the orphan crisis was "tearing at the very fabric of childhood".
According to government statistics, 315 people die each day from AIDS-related illnesses. Some 1.5 million people are living with the virus. Save the Children estimates one in 14 women in Ethiopia will die during birth compared to developed countries where one in 2,800 women die during birth.
The government said it needed US $115 million a month – almost equal to the country’s annual health budget of around $140 million - to help look after all the orphaned children in the impoverished country, providing them with such necessities as clothes, food or financial support.
"Orphans and vulnerable children are very vulnerable to all forms of abuse and exploitation," the plan states. "They face a loss of inheritance rights, loss of opportunities for education, basic health care, normal growth sand development and shelter. They are also at risk to the future waves of HIV infection."
Dawit Yohannes, speaker of parliament, said new laws were being introduced to help prevent further exploitation of children. "Children are the most vulnerable segment of a society who need special care and protection," he said at the launch. "Owing to their age they can neither take care of themselves nor guard themselves from hazards."
"Ethiopia is facing a crisis of orphans," Bjorn Ljungqvist, head of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Ethiopia, said at the launch of a national action plan to help children who have been orphaned and better protect them from HIV/AIDS.
Hassen Abdella, minister of Labour and Social Affairs, said the scale of the orphan crisis was "tearing at the very fabric of childhood".
According to government statistics, 315 people die each day from AIDS-related illnesses. Some 1.5 million people are living with the virus. Save the Children estimates one in 14 women in Ethiopia will die during birth compared to developed countries where one in 2,800 women die during birth.
The government said it needed US $115 million a month – almost equal to the country’s annual health budget of around $140 million - to help look after all the orphaned children in the impoverished country, providing them with such necessities as clothes, food or financial support.
"Orphans and vulnerable children are very vulnerable to all forms of abuse and exploitation," the plan states. "They face a loss of inheritance rights, loss of opportunities for education, basic health care, normal growth sand development and shelter. They are also at risk to the future waves of HIV infection."
Dawit Yohannes, speaker of parliament, said new laws were being introduced to help prevent further exploitation of children. "Children are the most vulnerable segment of a society who need special care and protection," he said at the launch. "Owing to their age they can neither take care of themselves nor guard themselves from hazards."
Plan launched to help orphans
ADDIS ABABA, 14 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - One Ethiopian child out of 10 is an orphan, a report by the UN, the government and the NGO, Save the Children, said. The HIV/AIDS pandemic, appalling poverty and dire health conditions had left 4.6 million youngsters without parents, it added.
"Ethiopia is facing a crisis of orphans," Bjorn Ljungqvist, head of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Ethiopia, said at the launch of a national action plan to help children who have been orphaned and better protect them from HIV/AIDS.
Hassen Abdella, minister of Labour and Social Affairs, said the scale of the orphan crisis was "tearing at the very fabric of childhood".
According to government statistics, 315 people die each day from AIDS-related illnesses. Some 1.5 million people are living with the virus. Save the Children estimates one in 14 women in Ethiopia will die during birth compared to developed countries where one in 2,800 women die during birth.
The government said it needed US $115 million a month – almost equal to the country’s annual health budget of around $140 million - to help look after all the orphaned children in the impoverished country, providing them with such necessities as clothes, food or financial support.
"Orphans and vulnerable children are very vulnerable to all forms of abuse and exploitation," the plan states. "They face a loss of inheritance rights, loss of opportunities for education, basic health care, normal growth sand development and shelter. They are also at risk to the future waves of HIV infection."
Dawit Yohannes, speaker of parliament, said new laws were being introduced to help prevent further exploitation of children. "Children are the most vulnerable segment of a society who need special care and protection," he said at the launch. "Owing to their age they can neither take care of themselves nor guard themselves from hazards."
"Ethiopia is facing a crisis of orphans," Bjorn Ljungqvist, head of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Ethiopia, said at the launch of a national action plan to help children who have been orphaned and better protect them from HIV/AIDS.
Hassen Abdella, minister of Labour and Social Affairs, said the scale of the orphan crisis was "tearing at the very fabric of childhood".
According to government statistics, 315 people die each day from AIDS-related illnesses. Some 1.5 million people are living with the virus. Save the Children estimates one in 14 women in Ethiopia will die during birth compared to developed countries where one in 2,800 women die during birth.
The government said it needed US $115 million a month – almost equal to the country’s annual health budget of around $140 million - to help look after all the orphaned children in the impoverished country, providing them with such necessities as clothes, food or financial support.
"Orphans and vulnerable children are very vulnerable to all forms of abuse and exploitation," the plan states. "They face a loss of inheritance rights, loss of opportunities for education, basic health care, normal growth sand development and shelter. They are also at risk to the future waves of HIV infection."
Dawit Yohannes, speaker of parliament, said new laws were being introduced to help prevent further exploitation of children. "Children are the most vulnerable segment of a society who need special care and protection," he said at the launch. "Owing to their age they can neither take care of themselves nor guard themselves from hazards."
Coping with increasing orphan numbers through adoption
ADDIS ABABA, 10 Jan 2005 (IRIN) - Wrapped in a bundle of warm blankets and lucky to be alive, four-month-old Thomas Bekele still faces a precarious future.
Orphaned three weeks ago when his mother died from tuberculosis, he is one of the almost five million orphans in Ethiopia - a mushrooming crisis that the government warned was "tearing apart the social fabric" of the country.
The rising number of orphans has, however, raised the demand for adoptions to a record high. Some 1,400 children made new homes abroad last year, more than double from the previous year.
Adoption agencies also doubled to 30 in the capital Addis Ababa in the last year, a highly lucrative market with some agencies charging parents fees of up to US $20,000 per child.
Bulti Gutema, who heads the country's adoption authority, says adoption of orphans poses many moral quandaries to his government. He blames the growing number of orphans and the increasing numbers of adoptions on poverty.
"We would prefer these children to remain in Ethiopia because it is their country," he says. "Adoption is the last resort because it doesn't help alleviate poverty in Ethiopia."
Bulti, however, admits that the $115 million a month needed to care for orphans in Ethiopia is simply out of the question, when compared to the country's annual health budget of $140 million. It means, for some children, overseas adoption is the only option, he says.
In a move to help stem the growing orphan crisis in Ethiopia, the US government announced a $20 million project in December to help the 530,000 HIV/AIDS orphans.
"We can't afford to look after every orphan," Bulti adds. "That is why adoption is one of our existing alternative child-care programmes, although it really solves the problems of just a few children."
Ethiopia has strict adoption laws, but the process can be pushed through in 10-15 days if the paperwork is in order, according to Balti.
An international convention, established in 1993, exists to protect children who are adopted overseas. It has been approved by 66 nations, although the Ethiopian government has not signed it yet.
Most orphaned children from Ethiopia go to France, Australia, the US and Ireland. Couples are turning abroad because of the huge delays - four or five years sometimes - to adopt within their own country.
"Parents adopt from Ethiopia because of the poverty and the children are beautiful and attractive," said Tsegaye Berhe of Horizon Homes, a halfway house where children from orphanages wait until they are selected by parents from the US.
"It is not difficult to adopt here, the Ethiopian government has few restrictions for adoptive parents. Organisations like his will pay orphanages a small amount for upkeep of a child.
"This should not be seen as though we are purchasing a child," says Tsegaye. "We are just refunding the costs incurred by the orphanages."
Most adoption agencies are non-profit. His organisation, which opened last year, received around $6,000 a month to cover the expense of looking after the 32 children it sent to America. Next year, they hope to send more than 50 children.
For accountant Russell Giles, 33, and his wife Vivian, 30, who have four of their own children, they expect to be in Ethiopia for three weeks while they adopt brother and sister Philimon, 5, and Bersable, 6.
"The government here has been very open and willing," said the couple from Salt Lake City, Utah, who are adopting privately from an orphanage, rather than through an agency. "Other countries appear very open, but clamp up once the process has started."
While they meet Philimon and Bersable for the first time in a nervous encounter, just a few metres away, 15-year-old Genet Girma was trying to give her two children up.
"I have nothing to give them," she said of the two tiny eight-week old twins strapped to her front and back. "I am too poor."
Most mothers will simply abandon their children near a police station or church rather than turn up at orphanages, where by law, they must be turned away. Any children that turn out to be HIV-positive cannot be put up for adoption.
Daniel, a three-year-old, bright-eyed boy who is HIV-positive, sits and stares each day as new prospective parents walks around the orphanage, often crying when they leave.
"It is very hard for him to see children leave with new moms and dads because he never leaves and he doesn't understand why," says Sister Camilla, who has worked in the country for more than 30 years.
Orphaned three weeks ago when his mother died from tuberculosis, he is one of the almost five million orphans in Ethiopia - a mushrooming crisis that the government warned was "tearing apart the social fabric" of the country.
The rising number of orphans has, however, raised the demand for adoptions to a record high. Some 1,400 children made new homes abroad last year, more than double from the previous year.
Adoption agencies also doubled to 30 in the capital Addis Ababa in the last year, a highly lucrative market with some agencies charging parents fees of up to US $20,000 per child.
Bulti Gutema, who heads the country's adoption authority, says adoption of orphans poses many moral quandaries to his government. He blames the growing number of orphans and the increasing numbers of adoptions on poverty.
"We would prefer these children to remain in Ethiopia because it is their country," he says. "Adoption is the last resort because it doesn't help alleviate poverty in Ethiopia."
Bulti, however, admits that the $115 million a month needed to care for orphans in Ethiopia is simply out of the question, when compared to the country's annual health budget of $140 million. It means, for some children, overseas adoption is the only option, he says.
In a move to help stem the growing orphan crisis in Ethiopia, the US government announced a $20 million project in December to help the 530,000 HIV/AIDS orphans.
"We can't afford to look after every orphan," Bulti adds. "That is why adoption is one of our existing alternative child-care programmes, although it really solves the problems of just a few children."
Ethiopia has strict adoption laws, but the process can be pushed through in 10-15 days if the paperwork is in order, according to Balti.
An international convention, established in 1993, exists to protect children who are adopted overseas. It has been approved by 66 nations, although the Ethiopian government has not signed it yet.
Most orphaned children from Ethiopia go to France, Australia, the US and Ireland. Couples are turning abroad because of the huge delays - four or five years sometimes - to adopt within their own country.
"Parents adopt from Ethiopia because of the poverty and the children are beautiful and attractive," said Tsegaye Berhe of Horizon Homes, a halfway house where children from orphanages wait until they are selected by parents from the US.
"It is not difficult to adopt here, the Ethiopian government has few restrictions for adoptive parents. Organisations like his will pay orphanages a small amount for upkeep of a child.
"This should not be seen as though we are purchasing a child," says Tsegaye. "We are just refunding the costs incurred by the orphanages."
Most adoption agencies are non-profit. His organisation, which opened last year, received around $6,000 a month to cover the expense of looking after the 32 children it sent to America. Next year, they hope to send more than 50 children.
For accountant Russell Giles, 33, and his wife Vivian, 30, who have four of their own children, they expect to be in Ethiopia for three weeks while they adopt brother and sister Philimon, 5, and Bersable, 6.
"The government here has been very open and willing," said the couple from Salt Lake City, Utah, who are adopting privately from an orphanage, rather than through an agency. "Other countries appear very open, but clamp up once the process has started."
While they meet Philimon and Bersable for the first time in a nervous encounter, just a few metres away, 15-year-old Genet Girma was trying to give her two children up.
"I have nothing to give them," she said of the two tiny eight-week old twins strapped to her front and back. "I am too poor."
Most mothers will simply abandon their children near a police station or church rather than turn up at orphanages, where by law, they must be turned away. Any children that turn out to be HIV-positive cannot be put up for adoption.
Daniel, a three-year-old, bright-eyed boy who is HIV-positive, sits and stares each day as new prospective parents walks around the orphanage, often crying when they leave.
"It is very hard for him to see children leave with new moms and dads because he never leaves and he doesn't understand why," says Sister Camilla, who has worked in the country for more than 30 years.
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: No sign of military build-up, says UNMEE
ADDIS ABABA, 6 Jan 2005 (IRIN) - The UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) deputy head, Sissel Ekaas, said on Thursday there was no sign of a military build-up in the Horn of Africa.
Eritrean president, Isayas Afeworki, had claimed in his New Year address that Ethiopia was making unexplained military preparations. However, Ekaas said recent Ethiopian troop movements were known in advance and occurred at least 15 km away from the demilitarised zone that separates the two countries.
"As we know - on both sides the rhetoric has always been very strong and at times it reaches fever pitch," Ekaas told a video-linked press conference between Asmara and Addis Ababa held at UNMEE headquarters.
"There have been a lot of accusations and counter accusations about a build-up and of course, UNMEE, despite the holiday period, has continued its monitoring in all sectors," she added. "This statement by President Isayas is his analysis and his interpretation. He sees this as, perhaps, preparations for war."
Ekaas said UNMEE monitoring and observation did not "give any ground or evidence to say that there is mass mobilisation - that there are offensive, aggressive positioning of troops".
"We cannot find any evidence of that," she told reporters.
Isayas told state-run Eritrean Radio on 1 January that Ethiopia must withdraw from territory along the frontier, which it says they are illegally occupying. "The military preparation in Ethiopia has not been seen before as it is now," he said.
The two countries fought a bloody war over their border that was sparked in May 1998. In November, Ethiopia accepted "in principle" a ruling on its shared border with Eritrea that was made as a part of a peace deal ending the two-and-a-half-year war. The ruling that marks their border was made in April 2002 by an internationally appointed commission, but was initially rejected by Ethiopia.
Ethiopia still rejects key elements of the ruling and, in particular, the decision by the commission to award Badme - the border town where the war flared up - to Eritrea.
UNMEE said last week it carried out 606 ground and 27 air reconnaissance patrols in and around the 1,000-km-long border region. Ekkas added that the UN force commander was "on the ground" verifying that recent Ethiopian troop movements were a "reconfiguration of their defences" as stated.
She also urged the international community not to lose sight of the Ethiopia-Eritrea peace process, given the demands of the tsunami catastrophe that struck in December.
Eritrean president, Isayas Afeworki, had claimed in his New Year address that Ethiopia was making unexplained military preparations. However, Ekaas said recent Ethiopian troop movements were known in advance and occurred at least 15 km away from the demilitarised zone that separates the two countries.
"As we know - on both sides the rhetoric has always been very strong and at times it reaches fever pitch," Ekaas told a video-linked press conference between Asmara and Addis Ababa held at UNMEE headquarters.
"There have been a lot of accusations and counter accusations about a build-up and of course, UNMEE, despite the holiday period, has continued its monitoring in all sectors," she added. "This statement by President Isayas is his analysis and his interpretation. He sees this as, perhaps, preparations for war."
Ekaas said UNMEE monitoring and observation did not "give any ground or evidence to say that there is mass mobilisation - that there are offensive, aggressive positioning of troops".
"We cannot find any evidence of that," she told reporters.
Isayas told state-run Eritrean Radio on 1 January that Ethiopia must withdraw from territory along the frontier, which it says they are illegally occupying. "The military preparation in Ethiopia has not been seen before as it is now," he said.
The two countries fought a bloody war over their border that was sparked in May 1998. In November, Ethiopia accepted "in principle" a ruling on its shared border with Eritrea that was made as a part of a peace deal ending the two-and-a-half-year war. The ruling that marks their border was made in April 2002 by an internationally appointed commission, but was initially rejected by Ethiopia.
Ethiopia still rejects key elements of the ruling and, in particular, the decision by the commission to award Badme - the border town where the war flared up - to Eritrea.
UNMEE said last week it carried out 606 ground and 27 air reconnaissance patrols in and around the 1,000-km-long border region. Ekkas added that the UN force commander was "on the ground" verifying that recent Ethiopian troop movements were a "reconfiguration of their defences" as stated.
She also urged the international community not to lose sight of the Ethiopia-Eritrea peace process, given the demands of the tsunami catastrophe that struck in December.
Farmers to receive certificates giving the right to use land
ADDIS ABABA, 11 Jan 2005 (IRIN) - Ten million farmers will receive certificates guaranteeing land rights, deflecting criticism over Ethiopia's controversial tenure system, officials said on Tuesday.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has pledged that all the farmers would receive the certificates over the next three years.
Critics of the government's land policy argue that state ownership in a rural-based economy prevents farmers from investing more heavily in their land to boost harvests. However, Mulugeta Debalkew, spokesman for the ministry, told IRIN that the new strategy would boost agricultural productivity by creating greater security for farmers.
Raising agricultural productivity in Ethiopia is crucial to the government's poverty alleviation strategy as part of their agricultural development led industrialisation. Currently, 85 percent of the population are subsistence farmers.
"Certification is in favour of the poor and it empowers women by legally guaranteeing their right to use land," Mulugeta said.
Although a pilot land certification scheme had been underway since 2003, the programme is now being expanded across the country. Mulugeta said Ethiopia's largest region - Oromiya, which has a population of 30 million people - was expected to begin issuing certificates this week.
He added that new legal frameworks, mapping and delineation of the land have been underway in the country in preparation for the certification scheme. The ministry was also looking at issuing land-use rights to the country's seven million pastoralists.
The certificates also allow farmers to sell the use right of the land to banks to raise collateral, although they cannot sell the land itself as it still remains under state ownership. Farmers can also transfer use rights to their children although the minimum plot size when divided up among families is half a hectare.
However, analysts expressed caution over the three-year timeframe and argued that by falling short of ownership, farmers will still be reluctant to invest in their land.
Dessalegn Rahmato, who heads the Ethiopian-based Forum for Social Studies, a social policy think tank, cast doubt on the projects' aims of boosting productivity.
"The farmers will not get a title deed to the land because they are not the owner," he told IRIN. "The government still has the option of getting rid of the use rights, depending on circumstances."
Mulugeta said the certificates meant farmers would be paid compensation if their land was taken by the state, saying that any dispute between state and farmer would be resolved through the courts.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has pledged that all the farmers would receive the certificates over the next three years.
Critics of the government's land policy argue that state ownership in a rural-based economy prevents farmers from investing more heavily in their land to boost harvests. However, Mulugeta Debalkew, spokesman for the ministry, told IRIN that the new strategy would boost agricultural productivity by creating greater security for farmers.
Raising agricultural productivity in Ethiopia is crucial to the government's poverty alleviation strategy as part of their agricultural development led industrialisation. Currently, 85 percent of the population are subsistence farmers.
"Certification is in favour of the poor and it empowers women by legally guaranteeing their right to use land," Mulugeta said.
Although a pilot land certification scheme had been underway since 2003, the programme is now being expanded across the country. Mulugeta said Ethiopia's largest region - Oromiya, which has a population of 30 million people - was expected to begin issuing certificates this week.
He added that new legal frameworks, mapping and delineation of the land have been underway in the country in preparation for the certification scheme. The ministry was also looking at issuing land-use rights to the country's seven million pastoralists.
The certificates also allow farmers to sell the use right of the land to banks to raise collateral, although they cannot sell the land itself as it still remains under state ownership. Farmers can also transfer use rights to their children although the minimum plot size when divided up among families is half a hectare.
However, analysts expressed caution over the three-year timeframe and argued that by falling short of ownership, farmers will still be reluctant to invest in their land.
Dessalegn Rahmato, who heads the Ethiopian-based Forum for Social Studies, a social policy think tank, cast doubt on the projects' aims of boosting productivity.
"The farmers will not get a title deed to the land because they are not the owner," he told IRIN. "The government still has the option of getting rid of the use rights, depending on circumstances."
Mulugeta said the certificates meant farmers would be paid compensation if their land was taken by the state, saying that any dispute between state and farmer would be resolved through the courts.
Statistics
Population: 72.4 million (UN, 2004)
Capital: Addis Ababa
Area: 1.13m sq km (437,794 sq miles)
Major languages: Amharic, Oromo, Tigrinya, Somali
Major religions: Christianity, Islam
Life expectancy: 45 years (men), 46 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 Birr = 100 cents
Main exports: Coffee, hides, oilseeds, beeswax, sugarcane
GNI per capita: US $90 (World Bank, 2003)
Internet domain: .et
International dialling code: +251
Capital: Addis Ababa
Area: 1.13m sq km (437,794 sq miles)
Major languages: Amharic, Oromo, Tigrinya, Somali
Major religions: Christianity, Islam
Life expectancy: 45 years (men), 46 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 Birr = 100 cents
Main exports: Coffee, hides, oilseeds, beeswax, sugarcane
GNI per capita: US $90 (World Bank, 2003)
Internet domain: .et
International dialling code: +251
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Recreation
Recreation
Leisure time is generally spent at home. Individual games of skill such as board games and races are the most popular forms of recreation. Soccer is the most popular sport.
Leisure time is generally spent at home. Individual games of skill such as board games and races are the most popular forms of recreation. Soccer is the most popular sport.
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Calendar
Calendar
Ethiopia traditionally follows the Coptic calendar, although business is conducted using Western time and calendar standards. There is a seven-year difference separating the Coptic and the Gregorian, or Western, calendars; for example, 1998 is 1991 in Ethiopia. Also, the 24-hour day begins at sunrise, not midnight.
Ethiopia traditionally follows the Coptic calendar, although business is conducted using Western time and calendar standards. There is a seven-year difference separating the Coptic and the Gregorian, or Western, calendars; for example, 1998 is 1991 in Ethiopia. Also, the 24-hour day begins at sunrise, not midnight.
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Holidays
Holidays
Christmas begins, and does not end, the year—it falls on 7 January. On Christmas, a special game is played by some Ethiopians that is not played at any other time of the year. Similar to field hockey, it is said to derive from an old story that shepherds, brimming with joy to hear of the birth of Jesus Christ, spontaneously used their hooked staffs to make up a game that expressed their happiness. It is called Ganna.
The Epiphany, or Visit of the Three Magi, is celebrated on 19 January. Victory Day is on 6 March, and Patriots’ Victory Day on 6 April. Good Friday, the Friday preceding Easter, is a holiday in Ethiopia, and Easter, called Fasika, is the most important holiday of the year.
Christmas begins, and does not end, the year—it falls on 7 January. On Christmas, a special game is played by some Ethiopians that is not played at any other time of the year. Similar to field hockey, it is said to derive from an old story that shepherds, brimming with joy to hear of the birth of Jesus Christ, spontaneously used their hooked staffs to make up a game that expressed their happiness. It is called Ganna.
The Epiphany, or Visit of the Three Magi, is celebrated on 19 January. Victory Day is on 6 March, and Patriots’ Victory Day on 6 April. Good Friday, the Friday preceding Easter, is a holiday in Ethiopia, and Easter, called Fasika, is the most important holiday of the year.
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