Getting water to Ethiopia's poorest
17 April, 2010 | Belfast Telegraph
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
village’s oasis.
It does not look like much, but a small well and water pump, almost
hidden from view behind a wooden fence, is a lifeline for the 500
households in Konga village in the Oromia region of central Ethiopia.
For the first time ever the villagers here have access to clean water.
“Before the well was constructed I walked for one and a half hours
every day fetching water from a small spring up the mountain. The
spring was oozing and was susceptible to contamination. We used to
get sick and the children used to get sick because of the parasites in the
water,” said Mihret (25), a mother-of-three.
“But we are getting clean water now. It is safe for us to drink and I do
not have to walk every day up the mountain.”
The water from the well, which was constructed as part of a ground
development programme by the Japanese International Co-operation
Agency, is rationed. Mihret is allowed 80 litres per day for her family of
five. The UN minimum acceptable standard is 50 litres per person.
But Mihret and the other villagers are among the lucky ones. At least
half of Ethiopia’s population still do not have access to clean drinking
water.
Like much of Ethiopia, Konga village relies heavily on rain water for
farming and when there is poor rainfall, the small amounts of food the
village is producing must be rationed.
“Last year there was a big drought and there was a shortage of food.
When there is lack of timely rainfall it can be a problem. Even in good
times we are vulnerable,” Esaya Betane, a 17 year-old maize farmer
explained.
But while people like Esaya and Mihret must cope with their small
rations of water, the Ethiopian government is wooing foreign investors
with offers to lease 3m hectares of arable land, an area around the size
of Belgium.
While Ethiopia remains one of the hungriest countries in the world, with
more than 13m people needing food aid, much of this fertile land is
being used by rich countries and some of the world’s richest people to
export food for their own populations. Large scale flower farms owned
by foreign companies are also beginning to spring up around Ethiopia
for the exportation of cut flowers.
What will soon be one of Ethiopia’s largest greenhouses is currently
being developed by a Saudi billionaire businessman who has leased vast
amounts of land outside Awassa. Still under development the structure,
which is used to grow food for export, already stretches over 20
hectares.
The Ethiopian government says that these land deals are attracting
hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign investment and tens of
thousands of jobs and have denied the deals are causing hunger.
However in the state of Oromia, where just 46% of the population has
access to clean water, the president of the Oromia Studies’ Association,
Haile Hirpa, recently wrote to the UN secretary general to protest that
Indian, Saudi Arabian, Egyptian, South Koran, Chinese and other Arab
investors were active in the state.
“This is the new 21st-century colonisation. The Saudis are enjoying the
rich harvest, while the Oromos are dying from man-made famine as we
speak,” he said.
By exporting these crops and flowers these businesses are also
exporting thousands of gallons of water a year, leading critics to claim
that by selling land, the government is also selling water.
Local government officers in Ethiopia told the Belfast Telegraph that
foreign companies that set up flower farms and other intensive farms
such as coffee farms have yet to pay any money for their water usage.
“We would like to charge them, but the deal is made by central
government. They are using too much water, especially the coffee
farms as coffee production is one time water usage. The more exported
coffee there is the more we have water problems,” one officer said.
Courtesy
17 April, 2010 | Belfast Telegraph
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Deborah McAleese visited Ethiopia to
find out about the work that the
Japanese International Co-operation
Agency is carrying out to bring clean
water to one of the world’s hungriest,
most water deprived countries
- A cloud of orange dust swirls around
Mihret Tsfay’s bare feet as she strolls in
the blinding afternoon sun, past a row of
village’s oasis.
It does not look like much, but a small well and water pump, almost
hidden from view behind a wooden fence, is a lifeline for the 500
households in Konga village in the Oromia region of central Ethiopia.
For the first time ever the villagers here have access to clean water.
“Before the well was constructed I walked for one and a half hours
every day fetching water from a small spring up the mountain. The
spring was oozing and was susceptible to contamination. We used to
get sick and the children used to get sick because of the parasites in the
water,” said Mihret (25), a mother-of-three.
“But we are getting clean water now. It is safe for us to drink and I do
not have to walk every day up the mountain.”
The water from the well, which was constructed as part of a ground
development programme by the Japanese International Co-operation
Agency, is rationed. Mihret is allowed 80 litres per day for her family of
five. The UN minimum acceptable standard is 50 litres per person.
But Mihret and the other villagers are among the lucky ones. At least
half of Ethiopia’s population still do not have access to clean drinking
water.
Like much of Ethiopia, Konga village relies heavily on rain water for
farming and when there is poor rainfall, the small amounts of food the
village is producing must be rationed.
“Last year there was a big drought and there was a shortage of food.
When there is lack of timely rainfall it can be a problem. Even in good
times we are vulnerable,” Esaya Betane, a 17 year-old maize farmer
explained.
But while people like Esaya and Mihret must cope with their small
rations of water, the Ethiopian government is wooing foreign investors
with offers to lease 3m hectares of arable land, an area around the size
of Belgium.
While Ethiopia remains one of the hungriest countries in the world, with
more than 13m people needing food aid, much of this fertile land is
being used by rich countries and some of the world’s richest people to
export food for their own populations. Large scale flower farms owned
by foreign companies are also beginning to spring up around Ethiopia
for the exportation of cut flowers.
What will soon be one of Ethiopia’s largest greenhouses is currently
being developed by a Saudi billionaire businessman who has leased vast
amounts of land outside Awassa. Still under development the structure,
which is used to grow food for export, already stretches over 20
hectares.
The Ethiopian government says that these land deals are attracting
hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign investment and tens of
thousands of jobs and have denied the deals are causing hunger.
However in the state of Oromia, where just 46% of the population has
access to clean water, the president of the Oromia Studies’ Association,
Haile Hirpa, recently wrote to the UN secretary general to protest that
Indian, Saudi Arabian, Egyptian, South Koran, Chinese and other Arab
investors were active in the state.
“This is the new 21st-century colonisation. The Saudis are enjoying the
rich harvest, while the Oromos are dying from man-made famine as we
speak,” he said.
By exporting these crops and flowers these businesses are also
exporting thousands of gallons of water a year, leading critics to claim
that by selling land, the government is also selling water.
Local government officers in Ethiopia told the Belfast Telegraph that
foreign companies that set up flower farms and other intensive farms
such as coffee farms have yet to pay any money for their water usage.
“We would like to charge them, but the deal is made by central
government. They are using too much water, especially the coffee
farms as coffee production is one time water usage. The more exported
coffee there is the more we have water problems,” one officer said.
Courtesy
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