When drought hits and families are struggling to survive, the
solutions don’t always have to be complicated or expensive. As I
learnt from our team in Ethiopia last year, something as simple
as a sack can mean the difference between hunger and happiness
for a farming family. Our team has been helping communities in
Ethiopia since the first signs of drought began more than two
years ago, bringing fresh water, food, medicine and supplies to
those who need them most. But where a few crops can still grow,
in the Oromia Region on the edge of the dry zone, our team has
also found a straightforward way to increase harvests and give
families more food to go around. When maize and sorghum crops
are harvested, farmers traditionally store them in pits dug
below ground. The grains are used to make injera pancakes, the
staple diet for most families in this part of Ethiopia, so it’s
important that they last as long as possible. But drought makes
for a meagre harvest to begin with, and pests, bugs and mould
all take their t