Addis to Kolumsa

Long time no blog. Early October I went to Ethiopia for the first time. For the "Wheat for Food Security in Africa" Conference. Addis is a big building site - given the little that I saw of this 4-million city lying on a plateau as high up as Mexico City. The hotel was surrounded by emerging highrise buildings. In fact, I shared the hotel car with Chinese construction workers, who are building the hotel's next wing.

One of the Conference days was reserved for a field trip to Kolumsa, the national agricultural research station for wheat.  Getting out of Addis takes a while - very spread out - we passed a brand new light industrial zone built by the Chinese and then you enter an almost European countryside. Wide vistas of mellow, green plains surrounded by hills. The teff (local grain) fields are turned into handsome waves by the wind. We stopped by a farmer, with his two hectares of wheat, to learn how he was doing, wheat-wise. He held his own, surrounded by two busloads of agricultural researchers. At Kolumsa, we were given a good show, which included the presentation of a small mechanisation project funded by the German Government. Apparently, once you get to 2 hectares, oxen & plough won't do anymore and a small tractor would come in handy, to save time, labour and livestock maintenance costs. The drive back provided a good dose of Addis traffic jams. All in all, a lovely trip!