Scanning The African Diaspora Heritage Month

The African Diaspora Perspective of African Business in 2012

As we try to scan the African Diaspora Heritage month in 2012, we are looking critically in the minds of African Diaspora in the the cyber blogosphere.  What we find is rather interesting and to say the least a bit depressing.   The following three writings by African Diaspora about themselves and the perception of Africa is quite different from the reality on the ground. It is by far pessimistic in comparison to what Africans perceive their prospect in the age of Global Economic Crisis.

February 2012 is considered the first Global African Diaspora Heritage Month.  This demands an examination of the contribution of the African Diaspora around the world towards their host and home communities.  As such, we will be examining individual and collective efforts of the Diaspora communities all over the world.

The first series will be titled in their own words or to be exact in their own blogosphere.  This is an accurate characterization of those African Diaspora in their own writings, where they intentionally are expressing their free will.  It is interesting and we will keep the judgement to the end.

Here are some samples.  We will add different format contributions in the future to make it comprehensive and representative of the Global African Diaspora perspectives.

Belai Habte-Jesus, MD, MPH


Ethiopia: African Beggars Union Hall?

By Alemayehu G. Mariam

The new African Union (AU) headquarters was inaugurated last week. It was “China’s gift to Africa.” China picked the entire USD$200 million tab for the building, fixtures and furniture. The China State Construction Engineering Corporation constructed the building using nearly all Chinese workers. Meles Zenawi, the dictator in Ethiopia, waxed poetic as he blessed the new building and consecrated the “continuing prosperous partnership” between Africa and China:

… This magnificent edifice is built on the ruins of the oldest maximum security prison in our country. People in Ethiopia used to call it Alem Bekagne, loosely translated it means I have given up on this world- this life. This building which will now house the headquarters of our continental organization is built on the ruins of a prison that represented desperation and hopelessness…

This magnificent new head quarters (sic) of our continental organization- the AU which has been at the center of the struggle for the African renaissance (sic) is a symbol of the rise of Africa. The face of this great hall is meant to convey this message of optimism, a message that is out of the decades of hopelessness and imprisonment a new era of hope is dawning, and that Africa is being unshackled and freed not only from the remnants of colonialism but also from want and violence. It is very interesting to note, that just as Africa is rising from the ruins of the desperation and Afro-pessimism this magnificent new head quarter (sic) of the AU is rising from the ruins of a prison of desperation and hopelessness.

… It is therefore very appropriate for China to decide to build this hall -- the hall of the rise of Africa -- this hall of African renaissance -- (sic) and the adjoining office building for us. I am sure I speak for all of you when I say to the people and government of China thank you so very much. May our partnership continue and prosper.

The current AU chairperson, Equatorial Guinea’s three-decade plus dictator Teodoro Obiang Nguema, praised the “generosity of the Chinese government”, and described the building as marking “a qualitative leap in the relations between China and Africa”. He raved about the building as “a reflection of the new Africa, and the future we want for Africa”.

Why didn’t the African countries chip in to build this “magnificent” symbol of an “Africa Rising” and an “African Renaissance”? Well, they do not have the money; they are poor. (Incidentally, a few months ago, the U.S. Government filed legal action against Teodorin Obiang, AU Chair Nguema’s son for racketeering (illegal business). While the Chinese were sweating it on the new AU hall, Teodorin had commissioned construction of a yacht [the second most expensive in the world] at the cost of 380 million dollars, [nearly twice as much as it cost to build the AU building] for his rest and relaxation.)

Africa Rising or Africa Panhandling?

Far from being a symbol of African hope, renaissance, optimism and glory, the new AU building reinforces the world’s indelible perception of Africa as the continent of poverty, famine, corruption and dictatorial extravagance. Reporter Richard Poplak insightfully observed the new AU building is the ultimate architectural symbol of Africa as a beggar continent and the moral decay of its dictators:

… The new African Union headquarters in dusty Addis Ababa is a structure in which form perfectly marries function - the building means nothing, and nothing will ever get done inside it…. The building doesn't need to symbolize anything further than its existence, wherein it becomes a staggeringly articulate representation of Africa's greatest skill: begging…. The first thing we notice is the tiled silver dome that acts as the building's centerpiece. This reminds us of nothing so much as an overturned beggar's bowl, left in the street after a solid day of mewling at the feet of passersby… Then there's the tower. Stretching up 20 storeys… it resembles… a beggar's outstretched hand… None of this could we have achieved by ourselves. Instead, in order to raise this fine structure - this symbol of continental unity - from the bare African earth, we used the one skill that unites us all. We stretched out our collective hands, batted our eyelashes, looked simultaneously cute and hungry. And we begged.

A Monument to a Do-Nothing African Union

The AU has 54 members. It was formed in 2002 as a successor to the Organization of African Unity (OAU). The AU’s declared aim is to “accelerate the political and socio-economic integration of the continent, promote and defend African common positions to achieve peace and security in Africa, and promote democratic institutions, good governance and human rights.”

In its decade of existence, the AU has little to show for itself. It sent peacekeeping troops to various hotspots in Africa including Burundi, Uganda, Somalia and Darfur, Sudan. The AU dumped its Darfur mission on the United Nations in 2008 unable to deal with that tragic situation. In 2007, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) was established to promote “stabilization of the country in furtherance of dialogue and reconciliation, facilitate delivery of humanitarian assistance, and create conditions for long-term stabilization, reconstruction and development in Somalia.” Suffice it to say, “Mission stuck in the quagmire of Somali clan politics.”

The AU also adopted various documents intended to remediate the problems of corruption, poor governance and economic development in the continent including the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (2003), the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (2007), the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and its associated Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance. Yet the theft of elections and billions of dollars in Africa has continuedover the past decade.

George Ayittey, the internationally acclaimed Ghanaian economist does not mince words in sizing up the AU:

Please, please, don’t ask about the African Union. It is the most useless organization we have on the continent. It can’t even define “democracy” and it is completely bereft of originality. It is imbued with “copy-cat” mentality. Europe has the European Union (EU), so we must have the African Union (AU). The AU forgot that to become a member of the European Union, a country must meet very strict requirements. But in the case of the African Union, there are no requirements. Any rogue and collapsed state can be a member. And when the African Union unveiled NEPAD (the New Economic Partnership for African Development), it boasted that NEPAD was an “African crafted program.” But as it turned out, NEPAD was modeled after the Marshall Aid Plan. When the Darfur crisis flared up, the AU was nowhere to be found. It was doing the watutsi [dance] in Addis Ababa. After much international condemnation, the AU finally managed to cobble together some troops to send to Darfur.

The “uselessness” of the AU is evident not only in its political impotence and economic ineptitude but also in its steadfast refusal to maintain observance of minimum standards of human rights in member countries. The AU has openly instructed member countries to “disregard” the International Criminal Court's warrant of arrest issued against Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir who is sought for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.

It did the same thing when an ICC arrest warrant was issued against Gadhafi. The AU yelped from the sidelines as Cote d’Ivoire descended into civil war following the 2010 presidential election. France, a former colonial power, had to come to the rescue. The AU was among the last to recognize the Libya’s National Transitional Council. No doubt, the AU was deeply distressed by the sudden demise of Gadhaffi, its longtime patron and sugar daddy. When Zenawi declared a 99.6 percent election victory in the May 2010 Ethiopian elections, the AU monitoring team led by former Botswana president Ketumile Masire praised him and declared: “It is recognised that 2010 Ethiopia’s legislative elections reflected the will of the people. Conditions existed for voters to freely express their will.”

The AU is managed by an inept and bungling commission which acts as the executive/administrative branch with empty suit commissioners lording over different areas of policy. According to news reports, “of the $256 million the commission was allocated in 2011, the AU used less than 40 percent. The commission has about 1,000 staff members, 328 posts have been vacant for the past eight years.” (One can surmise that the unused $154 million could have been a nice down payment for an all-African financed AU building. Talking about African countries not having “enough resources” for public projects, the International Monetary Fund recently reported that there was an unexplained USD$32 billion discrepancy in the Angolan government’s accounts from 2007 through 2010. Does “discrepancy” mean stolen? According to Global Financial Integrity, 11.7 billion was stolen from Ethiopia in the last decade. The same story is repeated in the Sudan, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria and many other African countries.)

Is Begging Africa’s Eternal Destiny?

For a long time, the Western world regarded Africa as the “Dark Continent”, not because of the complexion of the people but because little was known about Africa. Sadly, much of the world today regards Africa as the “Beggar Continent”. African dictators can wax eloquent about the “new Africa”, “Africa Rising” and the “African Renaissance”, but nobody is buying it. Everyone can see today that Africa is gasping to breath under the trampling boots of brutal dictators. Africa is not a continent in “renaissance”; it is a continent on a tightrope. Let the facts speak for themselves:

Over one-half the population of Africa lives on less than USD$1 a day. Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region in the world where poverty has increased in the past 25 years. In 1960, Africa was a net exporter of food; today the continent imports one-third of its grain. Today, more than 40 percent of Africans do not even have the ability to obtain sufficient food on a day-today basis. Declining soil fertility, land degradation, and the AIDS pandemic in Africa have led to a 23 percent decrease in food production per capita in the last 25 years while population has increased dramatically. Among the 38 of the world’s heavily indebted poor countries, 32 are in Africa. The average life expectancy at birth for Sub-Saharan Africa is 52.5 years. Slums are home to 72% of urban Africans. Primary school enrollment in African countries is among the lowest in the world. In Sub-Saharan Africa, only two-thirds of children who start primary school reach the final grade.

Africa loses an estimated 20,000 skilled personnel a year to developed countries. A woman living in Sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy, compared to 1 in 3,700 for a woman in North America. On average, women in Sub-Saharan Africa have two more children than the rest of world. More than 40 percent of women in Africa do not have access to basic education. There are an estimated 5,500 AIDS deaths a day in Africa. Every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday. More than 50 percent of Africans suffer from water-related diseases such as cholera and infant diarrhea. The prevalence of HIV for people ages 15-49 in Sub-Saharan Africa is nearly 7 times the world’s prevalence.

Ethiopia remains at the very bottom of the world's poorest nations. Under the “leadership” of the dictator Zenawi, for the past two decades Ethiopia has achieved the dubious honor of being the second poorest country in the world (after Mali) and the largest recipient of net official development assistance in Africa at USD$3.82 billion in 2009. The World Bank reported: “At US$380, Ethiopia's per capita income is much lower than the Sub-Saharan African average of US$1,165 in FY 2010.”

According to a recent U.S. Census Bureau report, in just four decades, Ethiopia's population will more than triple to 278 million, placing that country in the top 10 most populous countries in the world. A recent report by the Legatum Institute presents some sobering and heartbreaking findings on the situation in Ethiopia today: Ethiopia has an “unemployment rate [that] is almost 21%, which is the sixth highest rate, globally.” The “capital per worker in Ethiopia is the fourth lowest worldwide.” The country has “virtually no investment in R&D.” The ability of Ethiopians “to start and run a business is highly limited… [with a] communication infrastructure [that] is weak with only five mobile phones for every 100 citizens”; and the availability of internet bandwidth and secure servers is negligible. Inequality is systemic and widespread and the country is among the bottom ten countries on the Index. The Ethiopian “education system is poor at all levels and its population is deeply dissatisfied.” There is “only one teacher for every 58 pupils at primary level, there is a massive shortage of educators, and Ethiopian workers are typically poorly educated.” Less than a “quarter of the population believe Ethiopian children have the opportunity to learn and grow every day, which is the lowest such rate in the Index.”

On “health outcomes, Ethiopia performs abysmally poor. Its infant mortality rate, 67 deaths per 1,000 live births, and its health-adjusted life expectancy of 50 years, places Ethiopia among the bottom 20 nations.” The population suffers from high mortality rates from “Tuberculosis infections and respiratory diseases. Access to hospital beds and sanitation facilities is very limited, placing the country 109th and 110th (very last) on these measures of health infrastructure.” The core problem of poor governance is reflected in the fact that “there appears to be little respect for the rule of law, and the country is notable for its poor regulatory environment for business, placing 101st in the Index on this variable.”

Africa Rising, African Uprising

African dictators want the world to believe there is an “Africa Renaissance” and “Africa is Rising.” They want to hoodwink the world into believing that Africa is “unshackled and freed”. They proclaim the “façade of the great Africa Union hall conveys a message of optimism out of the decades of hopelessness”. They insult our intelligence. We know Africa shall remain in the dark ages so long as dictators cling to power like ticks on an African milk cow. We know Africa is not rising while under the deadweight of dictatorship; but nothing can stop an African uprising. Despite the deceptive and beguiling words of pompous and imperious dictators, we know Africa is shackled and not free. How can Africa “rise” or undergo a “renaissance” when she is bound, gagged, chained, straightjacketed and hog-tied by gangs of ruthless dictators?

Behind the façade of the great AU hall stand a giggling gang of beggars with cupped palms, outstretched hands, forlorn eyes and shuffling legs looking simultaneously cute and hungry, and begging. The stark truth of the matter is that dictatorship has birthed a shiny tower of desperation and hopelessness on the very “ruins of a prison of desperation and hopelessness”. Teodoro Obiang said the AU building represents the “future we want for Africa”. Excuse me, but begging ain’t much of a future!

China’s economic investment in Africa is said to exceed USD$150 billion. Thousands of Chinese companies do business in all parts of the continent. We know that business is business, and money talks. But as to “China’s gift to Africa”, it is best to heed the old adage: Beware of those bearing gifts. On the other hand, it is bad from for a recipient of charity not to be grateful and amiable. So in the customary words of all palm-rubbing, belly scratching and kowtowing panhandlers, it is appropriate to say to the gift-givers......


Ethiopia: We’ve met the enemy and it is us

By Yilma Bekele

‘…. he was feared far beyond his might and respected far beyond his support, both which in the end proved meager. … would play one official off of another, promoting sons above their fathers, pitting the members of too-powerful families or clans or unions against one another for resources, splitting so many allies and creating so many feuds and petty rivalries that it was nearly impossible that any two ……. could come together to ask one another if there might be another way.’
Max Fisher, associate editor-The Atlantic.

Mr. Fisher’s description fits most successful dictators. Admit it you thought he was talking about ours, didn’t’ you? It is all right, no need to worry; he was actually talking about the late Colonel Gaddafi. The Leader got away with just doing that for over forty years. Libya lost a generation. That is what failed leaders do to a country. After they are gone they leave a mess behind.

The drawing above is by cartoonist Ali Ferzat of Syria. Mr. Assad and his associates did not look kindly at his work. According to Mr. Fisher “On August 25, the 60-year-old Syrian political cartoonist Ali Ferzat was driving home from his office in Damascus when a car with tinted windows blocked the road. Men dragged Ferzat from his car, stuffed him in a van, beat him severely and broke both his hands in what they called "a warning" and dumped him on the side of the road.” Mr. Assad and his goons would like to kill Mr. Ferzat, thereby digging their grave. That is the logic of dictators.

Mr. Ferzat drew the above cartoon after his hands healed. What is going on in Syria is insanity, and that is putting it mildly. President Assad has witnessed the demise of Ben Ali, Mubarak, Gaddafi and Saleh but he is following the path that leads to the same dead end street. Why do you think? He is not stupid, and I doubt he is insane. May be a little insane ok? He probably thinks things are different in Syria. May be he believes he is more cunning and smarter than those buffoons. No matter what, he cannot stop this runaway train. He has no choice. It is a do or die situation. He is a prisoner of his own doing and the Syrian people are prisoners of their tolerance of evil for so long.

We Ethiopians are familiar with that state of affairs. We have been prisoners for a long time. It is true we have not been lucky with the leaders we seem to attract. Misfits and delusional describes them better. It is a good enough explanation for the debacle in our homeland. My question is how come the same dysfunctional behavior is replicated away from home?

It is fair to ask if we are running our affairs any better where ever we have settled. If our claim is that we have been cursed with bad leaders can we show any evidence that we are capable of building a harmonious society with out the interference of those we hold responsible for our failure? I believe it is a legitimate question that begs for answers from each one of us. I am interested in an answer not an excuse. Excuse is for losers. My interest is in looking for an explanation so we can search for a solution to fix the problem not to go on a fishing expedition to avoid responsibility or share the blame.

Look around you. We are in the hundreds of thousands that have left their home to construct a new reality. There is no denying that we are good at survival no matter how dire the circumstances. From the Jungles of Uganda all the way to Southern Africa, from Beirut to the Gulf, From Tuscany Coast to the frigid waters of Scandinavia and the mighty Continent of North America we Ethiopians are thriving in our new environment. Any mother would be proud of us! Please don’t get a big head now there is more.

That speaks about our individual achievements. My profound question to you my Diaspora cousin is how come we shine as individuals but fail as a community? Can you answer that for me? If you don’t mind I said answer not make up an excuse that will remove ‘you’ from the equation and dump the sins onto others. That is not good enough. That is what is called avoidance. It is a little difficult to imagine how each one of you is a perfect saint while all those ‘others’ are the ones causing the problem. It does not work like that. Believe me it is not that way.

If we are going to share the glory I believe we should be willing to share the blame too. The problem with our country is that there are so many that take credit for the past while screwing the present. I don’t mean to belittle the many achievements of the few. I am looking at the bigger picture. Voltaire wrote ‘No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.’ You see what I mean. There wouldn’t be an avalanche without the individual snowflake.

Our anti social behavior is manifested in most aspects of our interactions. Be it Political, religious or simple Eder the slash and burn formula is our choice of resolving simple misunderstandings. Just check out your community if you are lucky or unlucky enough to live in a large size abesha population. There is a high possibility that the effort of individuals is spent in conflict and drama instead of cooperation and harmony. We are becoming very good in this use and discard philosophy. It used to be like that in the West before they became aware of the limitations of resources. Everything was manufactured to be used and thrown away.

You know how good we are at copying. Unfortunately we are not discriminating. Thus we picked up that concept and applied it to our country. Circumstances forced us to leave. Returning was not a safe option. That fact made the act of leaving something you love behind a normal situation. Now we have enhanced that to include organizations and associations. If we disagree we just create a small faction and leave. After spending so much time and resources in building a beautiful organization, Church etc. we have no qualms in leaving it behind hoping it would disintegrate and disappear. I have seen situations where the wreckers have no plans with what to replace it with. All available force goes into making sure nothing survives.

Why do you think that is so? I am not imaging this. I am sure we all love our country. We love each other. I know that because we seem to spend inordinate amount of time worrying about each other and our homeland. We have our own Churches and Mosques; we have our own restaurants, quick stores, coffee shops, our own on line community etc. For people that can’t live without each other we definitely exhibit a strange way to show our love and concern.

This formidable force commonly called the Diaspora is a paper tiger. The Diaspora is all bark no bite. In fact the Diaspora is such a negative and destructive force it needs to be overhauled. Such talk might offend you. You might be forced to get your guards up. That is the snowflake talking. It is like saying I see all this dysfunction around me but I am not responsible. Who me? I am the picture of love and tolerance. It is all those others that are the cause of all evil. Stop that now.

That is what Gaddafi said. Look what it got him. Denial is not a winning strategy. Self-reflection is what the situation demands. Admitting there is a problem is show of maturity. Holding oneself responsible and willing to change is one giant step forward. This total dysfunction is the sum total of the little things we do in our everyday interaction.

I believe we can start with respect for each other. Respect based not because of education, wealth or gosa but respect because we are each other’s keepers. There is no need to demonize others, no value in demeaning fellow country people, not a good idea searching for motive in every utterance and no winner in war. If we take care of the little things, the big things will fall into place.

This habit of screaming bloody murderer about the hapless Woyane is not taking us anywhere. The crimes of our tyrannical leaders will be the cause of their downfall. The Ethiopian people will take care of that. They are working on it everyday. It is us I worry about. If we are not capable of forming a harmonious society out here where we really do not have conflicting interest what makes you think we could succeed over there? Shouldn’t out here be the place where we learn this new concept of respect, tolerance, kindness and all other winning behavior?

That is the advantage of living in a free society. It gives individuals a choice. No one compels us to do this or that. We are free to choose. Thus when we split our Church, when we disrespect our leaders be it Community or Party we are making a choice. When we speak ill of each other and when we hurt each other with venomous language it is a choice we each make. When we invest in Woyane land, buy stolen property, turn our faces away when we see our people being abused we are making a choice. No need to look at your neighbor. You ladies and gentlemen have to answer for your own actions. What would it be soaring high like the eagle or scavenging like the vulture. The choice is yours but you must take full responsibility for it!



Little Compassion for Ethiopian Farmers (Part -2)

By Geletaw Zeleke

The Ethiopian government has been claiming double digit growth for the past more than half a decade. According to the government, Ethiopia’s economy is growing at a rate of 11% which puts it at the top of rapidly growing countries around the world. By comparison this rate of growth would put Ethiopia along side of the tiger countries. Economic experts say that if there is an overall 11% rate of growth then, there should be an income increment of eight percent. Therefore, Ethiopian farmers, civil servants and traders should have been enjoying an eight percent increase in their income throughout the past decade.

In my previous article I tried to show, empirically, how the income of the Ethiopian civil servant has declined over the last 20 years. Let alone never experiencing an eight percent income increment their income in terms of dollars together with the surge of inflation shows a shocking loss to their economic empowerment. When we take a look at farmers’ lives we see the real face of Ethiopia’s multidimensional poverty. In fact the life of farmers is much worse and more complicated than that of civil servants.

In this continued short article let’s discuss some of the challenges of Ethiopian farmers from the following points of view.

1) Absurd land policy and land grab

2) Knowing and maximizing the potential of agricultural products

3) Social justice and human rights

Land Policy and Land Grab

First of all, no one is against investments. Investment in all sectors including agriculture is the job of responsible governments. No one country could grow by closing its doors to foreign investors. The fundamental difference of agricultural investments and land grab, however, is that Foreign Investment, in a sense, is a bridge of solidarity of nations based on mutual respect and benefits. Whereas, land grab, in a sense, is a form of disrespect toward the counter nation and it is also a systematic invasion of one’s sovereignty in the 21st century. Foreign trade and investment must be shaped by the principles of solidarity, compassion and responsibility.

The Ethiopian government appears to draw pleasure from land grab in place of encouraging and supporting Ethiopian farmers themselves. A government who claims to believe in agricultural development leading the industry (ADLI) is supposed to work to transfer one hectare hold farms to medium and large scale farms. Otherwise, how can farmers lead the country’s economy? Farmers who have 6 family members on average and hold one hectare of land are not be able to feed themselves as we have seen. Year to year they seek aid especially in the months of June, July, August, September and October.

Ethiopian has abundant virgin lands. According to Rene Lefort, Ethiopia has a projected figure of 7 million hectares available for 2015. The saddening reality, however, is that poor Ethiopian farmers are concentrated on 12 million hectares where they struggle for survival while the vast areas of arable land for sale are out of their reach.

The problem of land grab goes beyond the immediate issues of economic inequalities. In Ethiopia for example land grabbers can get a lease of up to 99 years. The problem with this is that cultivation of that land can ultimately fall down the water table of the land. The main land grabbers of Ethiopia are Chinese, Indian and Saudi Arabian. All of these investors came to Ethiopia to buy land not only because they have a shortage of land but rather because their water tables are failing due to over pumping. One of their main concern is not a one or two time profit but indirectly preserving their water table for the next generation

The question remains of why the government sells its lands while millions of farmers are starving? What is the profit for the government? Instead of resettling Ethiopian farmers the government again seems so excited to sell its land for almost nothing. One of the incentives for land grab is in fact to get support from abroad. Those benefactors who get land for nothing will always support the government to their full capacity. So the profit of the government from land grab is not the small money that it earns from the lease but is the long term benefit of the relationship to guarantee its control.

No matter how much the Ethiopian farmers citizenship rights are violated, no matter how much the small holder gets in trouble, no matter how much the water table will fall the EPRDF will never worry about these things. They always look for opportunities to prolong their power. Nowadays Ethiopian arable land will be for sale to become an instrument to prolong the agony of Ethiopian farmers.

Knowing and maximizing the potential of agricultural products

Another problem for Ethiopian farmers is that they do not know the full potentials of their agricultural products. In 2010 I had the chance to participate in the 21st Asian Friendship Society Annual Conference in Osaka, Japan. There I met a man from Japan who I asked how many things are made from rice in Japan. After he thought for a while he listed a number of remarkable and unexpected products. The Japanese use rice to cake, many kinds of breads, juice, soup, pasta, macaroni, pizza, rice cheese, rice milk, cleansing cream, lotions, soaps, facial masks, alcohol and more. The Japanese see the potential of rice and use it for the purpose of what they want.

After hearing what that man told me I thought of fenugreek, adenguware, the pea-like vegetable shimbra ሽንብራ, guwaya ጓያ and sinafich ስናፍጭ. In Ethiopia about 146 types of crops grow. This puts Ethiopia at the top of countries in the world with the potential to grow many kinds of crops. I was wondering what are the potentials of some of the Ethiopian plants. What is there inside the pea-like vegetable ሽንብራ? Can it be soap? Can it be lotion? Can it be a facial mask? Can it be shampoo? What is the potential of Fenugreek? Can it be cheese? Can it be milk? Emphasis on food engineering will help to know and use our products in optimizing ways. The potential of the variety of Ethiopian soil for agriculture and the potential of Ethiopian unique cereals must be known in order to eliminate hunger from Ethiopia. Self-reliance can be achieved through knowledge about our products potentials.

The Ethiopia farmers are very hard working people some research shows that Ethiopian women farmers work 18 hours per day but, the problem is that they do not have conventional ways for production. The responsibility rests on the shoulders of the government but the government does not concern itself with educating farmers.

In the 1970’s in Ethiopia basic education programs were a good example for African countries. Adult farmers were starting to write their names and they could even do basic mathematics for the first time in their lives. Unfortunately, this and other such programs did not continue with the same passion when the current regime came to power. If such programs did continue at the same rate of success after 20 years today’s middle aged farmers would be better prepare. They could easily adapt technologies to solve their immediate environmental problems; they could improve their food culture and grow more vegetables; they could improve their knowledge and attitude towards their internal and external environments. Unfortunately, the current literacy rate remains at 35.9% which is one of the lowest rates in the world.

Social justice and human rights

About eight years ago an Addis Ababa Education Bureau official held a meeting with Addis Ababa school directors at which I was in attendance. During that time he read a comparative study of Ethiopian current development at the time. According to the research presented on average Ethiopian farmers had to walk 6 hours to get to a main road, and that in all sectors access to education, health and infrastructure is behind that of neighboring countries. According to his presentation if we continue to progress at the same rate of the last 10 years we will need 30, 40, 50 or 60 years to catch up to neighboring countries like Sudan and Kenya. So, the current generation can not see Ethiopia reach the level of development of today’s neighboring Kenya and Sudan in their life span. The current per capita income, which is an estimated 350USD does not represents the vast majority of farmers in Ethiopia since economic disparity is very high.

Taking a look clean water supply farmers are the most neglected society. Since 70% of our body is water we need to drink clean water in order to improve our life span. In the 21st century while most countries are improving their access to clean water most Ethiopian farmers are highly exposed to more than 70% of water born diseases.

When we look to the human rights conundrum farmers are the most vulnerable group of society. The characteristics of human rights violations in cities and rural areas are very different. The pattern of human rights violations in cities is more likely systematic as a result of higher levels and volume of information flow and the presence of international human rights watches. In remote areas it is easy to violate farmer’s rights. Today Ethiopian farmers do not have privilege because of this it is difficult to get at their fears and experiences through interviews.

Today Ethiopian farmers seem to have stopped telling the truth about the regime because they know that the consequence is a dangerous life. Since the land is owned by the government farmers do not have security. On the other hand when we talk about human right the first right is the right to food. But, whenever we here of starvation striking the first and the vast majority of victims are farmers.

In rural areas murder, detention for long periods of time with out court order, disappearance and countless human rights violation are being perpetrated on Ethiopian farmers. The voice of the of farmers’ agony is echoing, little compassion for farmers.


References

opendemocracy.ne

foreignpolicy.com

ethioinvest