Unexpected scenery

You would be forgiven for thinking that the video above has been muddled with one from a different country. The bright green fields and trees can’t possibly be Ethiopia! Well it is and this just goes to show that what you may have seen about droughts doesn’t represent the country as a whole.

Addisu and Habtam are in Mojo town, 70 kilometres from Addis Ababa and many miles away from the dry and desolate southeast of Ethiopia. That is the Ethiopia you are probably more familiar with, the Ethiopia you may have seen on television where thousands of people have been stricken by drought and famine.

Addisu and Habtam have come to Mojo town to visit a teff farmer. Teff is an important part of Ethiopian agriculture. It is grown in the northern Ethiopian highlands and is native to Ethiopia.

The teff is used to make injera, the staple food of the country. Ethiopians don’t just eat injera every now and then. They eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Addisu cannot believe the tiny grains from the teff grass make the dough used for injera, a large pancake-looking food.

Addisu and Habtam have never before thought about how injera is produced. They are only used to eating it.

A sustainable lifestyle

Addisu and Habtam feel humbled to meet the farmer and interview him about his life. Many farmers employ traditional methods of farming, using cows to till their fields. They feed their families with the teff crop, but also sell any spare to the local community.