Worancha ወራንቻ

Exchanges aren’t helping farmers as foreign backers hoped Mondelez International’s February announcement that it would increase production of coffee from Ethiopian beans 50 percent in two years was good news for the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange, started in 2008 with the help of foreign donors to improve food distribution in a country where millions often went hungry. By government decree, almost all buying and selling of coffee, sesame seeds, and navy beans for export must take place on the exchange. The ECX , which got funding from the U.S. and the United Nations among others, is one of at least eight commodity exchanges started in sub-Saharan Africa over the past two decades with the aim of improving food security for local populations. Many have failed, and only South Africa’s is thriving without government support. Exchanges are a distraction from other initiatives that would better serve poor farmers, says Nicholas Sitko, a Michigan State University agricultural economist wh

file photo "Our investigations show that this was not a deliberate attack," ministry spokesperson Tewolde Mulugeta told The Anadolu Agency.   World Bulletin / News Desk The Ethiopian embassy in Yemeni capital Sanaa was shelled on Friday, the Foreign Ministry has said. "We believe it is a collateral damage occurred in the crossfire between the warring factions in the Yemeni capital,"  said ministry spokesperson Tewolde Mulugeta. According to the spokesperson, no one was hurt in the attack. "The embassy continued its normal functioning," Mulugeta said. Meanwhile, the spokesperson said that some 30 Ethiopians, including 11 children and 12 women, have been evacuated from Yemen. According to the spokesperson, some 2,000 Ethiopians have been registered to be evacuated from the war-torn country. "We are exerting efforts to evacuate the registered Ethiopians in spite of the deteriorating situation that is making rescue operations very d

April 7  is World Health Day, a day originally created to recognize the founding of the World Health Organization. Today, organizations like Food for the Hungry (FH) celebrate World Health Day by recognizing the successes of global health programs like the establishment of defecation-free zones in Ethiopia and Kenya. Horn of Africa map Public domain image/ Lexicon at the English Wikipedia project Those living in communities where public restrooms are a fact of life may have a hard time understanding the risks and challenges associated with public defecation. In villages in Ethiopia and Kenya, however, it is common practice for people to go to the bathroom outdoors, behind a bush and not wash their hands afterward, leading to the spread of disease and water contamination. The human waste then seeps into the stream or spring the village uses for drinking, which then contaminates even the best water systems. If a village doesn’t protect the watershed from contamination, greater

After Nigeria, could voters boot other African leaders? In becoming the first Nigerian to defeat a sitting president through the ballot box yesterday, Muhammadu Buhari's victory turned into a political flashpoint for African hopefuls determined to set the same precedent in their country. In Kenya, five democratic elections have yet to see an opposition candidate successfully unseat a sitting president. But Raila Odinga, who lost in 2007 and 2013, said the outcome of Nigeria’s election gives him hope. Buhari, who is 72 years old, lost elections three times before his successful campaign. Odinga will be the same age when Kenya holds its sixth presidential elections in 2017. Yesterday, he was quick to congratulate Buhari and note the importance of his victory to democracy across the continent.  Read More from PRI

THE recent UN Climate-Smart Agriculture conference in Montpellier, France, warning about the alarming levels of starvation Africa faces if actions are not taken to stem climate change. On the positive side, the conference noted that all the solutions and science needed to solve the problem are all around. There are however, some changes in the continents’ land that no one can stop - though, fortunately, they might not affect food security. The African continent is splitting in two and the result will eventually be a huge new continent, leaving Africa without its Horn. The reason is a geologic rift which runs down the eastern side of the continent which will eventually be replaced with an ocean. This phenomenon is all down to the geography that you may remember from school.  The Earth’s crust is divided into different sections called tectonic plates. Tectonic plates are the huge rocky slabs made up of the Earth’s crust and upper mantle. These massive sheets are continually