Farming

I'm not actually sure if most of you (aka my 2 readers) know why I am here so here's a quick rundown of the two major programs I got to check in on. Farmers First is program running in all 4 countries where CPAR works and although it can take different shapes in different countries and regions, the main focus is on farmers. They idea is to organize farmers into groups and have them come together to share ideas, successes, failures and participate in training, receive inputs and discuss relevant issues as determined by the farmers themselves.

The 2nd project similarly focuses on agriculture but as it involves about 7 NGOs, working in directly with the Ethiopian government across a number of regions, it's way too complicated to explain. One key priority of it though is capacity building of government service providers.

Over the past week I travelled to our field offices in Guba, Dibate and Jarso, met with farmers, saw tree planting sights, vegetable gardens, crop storage sheds and all kinds of stuff.

Here are a few photos for you before I run off for a hopefully fun and positive adventure Saturday.

 We saw lots of goats - here's one by the Guba office

Here are some homes in one of the villages we went to

I think this is Dibate town

We raced to catch the sunset over the Blue Nile Gorge - pretty cool

Vast farm lands in Jarso

This area was totally bare but through a CPAR tree planting and natural resource management initiative the hillside is recovered. This has helped diminish erosion and the accumulation of silt runoff. Wildlife is returning to the area, plants and trees are making a comeback. Pretty cool stuff.