Abstract:
It helps to remember that everything is connected. Without adequate natural
resources conservation, soils become depleted. Without fertile so.il, food production
declines and the threat of hunger increases. Without secure fooci supplies, Ethiopia
cannot prevail as a viable nation. It is thus essential that the social, environmental
and physical conditions in Ethiopia remain conducive in order for this generation
and also for the generations that follow to prevail. However, nothing less than a
new agricultural production system, a system that is intentionally intended to be
different from the traditional method of fanning, is more suitable for use at the
present time. We must understand that the traditional agriculture production
system in Ethiopia is incapable of feeding the ever-growing population mainly
because most of the soil has become depleted as a result of the mining of the soil
nutrients throughout centuries of cultivation. We know our choices are limited.
We have either to produce or to buy or to beg the food we eat. This generation
knows quite well that to beg the food one eats is dehumanizing and therefore it is
not a viable choice. We know that more than enough food is being produced
elsewhere in the world with the use of modem agriculture production techniques,
the viability and wisdom of which we seem to be debating about currently, but we
do not have the resources to buy this food. The most viable alternative, therefore,
is to opt for the domestic production of the food we need to eat, while at the same
time maintaining healthy social, environmental and physical environment. The
cruel truth is Ethiopian traditional agriculture is no longer able to feed the growing
population. It is in fact sliding below the level of subsistence agriculture. It is high
time indeed that we stop romanticizing peasant agriculture in Ethiopia. It has
failed even to prevail as a way of life. It has no hope and no future since it does not
offer any certainty to human and environmental well-being and health.
