Local officials and researchers say hunger has killed at least 700 people in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region in recent weeks after the United States and United Nations suspended food aid.
Local officials and researchers say hunger has killed at least 700 people in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region in recent weeks after the United States and United Nations suspended food aid.
Maybe someone more knowledgeable than me can comment: is it true that the injera crop native to that region and planted predominantly has a much lower yield than other wheat? Is it even planted predominantly at this point?
There has to be some way that ‘plant a crop with higher yield and less people hunger’ is not the solution, because if I can figure that out it would have been done already haha
I remember hearing that once but I don’t know of its true or by how much or what.
No, you’re barking up the wrong tree here. Tigray normally grows diverse crops of sorghum, maize, teff, barley etc, fruits such as oranges.
The famine in Tigray is entirely man-made. It’s caused by widespread crop destruction, blockades of farming necessities, deliberate destruction of water infrastructure, farm implements etc.
If you want to know more about agriculture in Tigray and the effects the war had on it, here’s a really in-depth article.
injera is a type of flatbread that can be made from either wheat or teff, thought I think teff is more traditional - it’s a sort of sourdough and it’s really tasty with wat (traditional Ethiopian stew).
not sure about the viability of the yield per acre when compared to wheat or oats. I dont feel like deep diving into which cereal is the most efficient for the horn of africa, but a few minutes of research indicates that teff “requires 1/2 to 2/3 the water other grains need”, but that “pearl millet is one of the most drought-tolerant grains”.
Interesting!
It doesn’t really matter what you are growing if government armies from two nations are deliberately laying waste to your crops and destroying your water infrastructure.
that’s true - and I want to say that’s why root vegetables were so popular in Europe during the dark/middle ages - rampaging armies generally arent going to disturb the soil that much.
Really? I never realised that. According to the article on agriculture I posted, there was some very innovative farming in Tigray before the war, so if they ever get back on their feet perhaps they will see if they can war-proof crops.
Unfortunately though there was evidence during the war that the creation of famine was deliberate and systematic, so it’s unlikely that any farming method would be affective against that in modern times.