AllAfrica.com reports on a situation in Ethiopia that’s threatening crop production this year. Due to the late start of Ethiopia’s wet season, and the unreliability of the rains, the number of those in need of aid could increase.

Excerpts below, full piece here

“The rainy season will start late particularly in the northeastern part of our country,” Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told reporters at his office on 24 June. “That means the cropping season for some types of crops may not be appropriate this year.”

Ethiopia produces 90-95 percent of its total cereal output during the main rainy season, called ‘meher’, which runs from June to October.

According to the US Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fews Net), the ‘meher’ crop season is likely to experience below normal rains. The ‘belg’ (early rains, February-June) season, which normally accounts for 5-10 percent of total cereal output, has also been unpredictable.

-Chris Scott

From Day 2 of our listening/learning trip to Ghana and Ethiopia. You can read more about our trip here.

On Wednesday, June 17th, ONE and RED took a group of American influentials just outside Addis to the Golden Rose Agrofarms in the town of Tefki. They are one of the pioneers of the cut flower industry in Ethiopia. Cut flowers are a major agricultural product for Ethiopia and exports have grown from $13 million in 2004/2005 to $23 million in 2005/2006. Estimates are that it could earn $100 million in the next couple of years. The number of cut flower producers has grown from 3 in 2001 to about 40 now. Golden Rose is a family business that started exporting roses in 2000. They currently employ more than 700 people, about 500 of them women, and produce about 80,000 roses a day on about 15 hectares of land. They export 15 million roses a year to Scandinavian countries as well as the Middle East. With money from USAID, Golden Rose is working on expanding their farm, and has already acquired some land next door. This will mean an increased capacity to produce and more people employed in the agriculture sector in Ethiopia.

The Managing Director of the farm, Ryaz Shamji, took us around the farm with his lovely wife and explained to the group the effort they have put into the sustainable development of Ethiopia as well as ensuring good working conditions for their employees. Golden Rose encourages the employment of those with disabilities, has instituted a contributory program that allows employees to manage the funds and invest in collective projects. We saw the latest project – a grinding machine – being put together on the premises during our tour. Golden Rose also worked with government in the early days to set up incentives to attract additional cut flower producers and these discussions resulted in the creation of tax holidays, easy access to land, access to finance at low fixed interest rates and import duty waivers enjoyed by entrants to the industry today.

The government favors the flower sector because of the possibility for foreign exchange earnings while absorbing certain amounts of labor. When asked why he worked so hard to encourage additional investors and create competition for himself, Ryaz answered that the more cut flower producers entered the Ethiopian market, the better off Ethiopia would be.

Golden Rose is truly a model farm for sustainable agricultural development in Africa!

-Edith Jibunoh

On Day 5 of our listening/learning trip to Africa, we visited the Tema General Hospital (a (RED)/Global Fund site), located 22 miles outside of Accra in the largest port, industrial city in Ghana. Built in 1954, the hospital is currently undergoing renovations in an effort to better serve the increasing number of patients. An eye care center was recently completed and the Minister of Health just announced plans to construct a new, modern maternity block.

These are some photos from a PMTCT (prevent mother-to-child transmission) program funded by the Global Fund. The PMTCT program at Tema General Hospital provides voluntary counseling, testing, treatment and services to prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to child.

-Morgana Wingard

Another on-the-ground post from the delegation traveling through Ethiopia and Ghana this week, this time from Maggie Williams. Learn more about the trip here.

There have been miracle days on this trip.  Yesterday, for me, most of the miracle took place at the Tema General Hospital in Tema, Ghana.  The hospital is a dynamic, living, breathing place, where women and their children are loved and taken care of.  Mothers with HIV find hope and help for both their lives and the lives of their children. Tema identifies women with HIV, gets them into treatment and helps them deliver and care for their healthy babies.  Maybe we just caught the Tema staff on a good day, but they make this very tough work look and feel like a labor of love.

Small simple counseling, testing, and treatment rooms line the hallways. Bigger rooms are used for waiting, dispensing medicine, and perhaps more importantly, for sharing the company of other women.

But particularly seared into my brain are the pictures of the Ghanaian women who are the nurses, doctors and technicians.  These professional women are master organizers.  They are customer service savvy, heavily invested in making things work for their clients.  They understand the emotional and economic challenges these families face.  They are the kind of women who post their goals along the walls and reach them.

I feel honored to have met them.

-Maggie Williams

An on-the-ground post from Tony Fratto, who is among the delegation traveling through Ethiopia and Ghana this week. Learn more about the trip here.

Today we visited a first-class Ghanaian pineapple-exporting farm and processing facility about 2 hours west of Accra.

It’s an 1800-acre farm, Fair Trade certified, exporting to Europe.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. Government corporation designed to work with some of the poorest countries in the world, is helping to provide capital and trade credits.  The farmers act in a cooperative, and we had the opportunity to talk to farmers from five of the largest pineapple farms.  The farmers explained that the capital supports the investment in the processing facility, which helps the farmers to increase production and add value for exports.

An important part of smart, effective development — which ONE is encouraging — is to have well-integrated projects.  In this case, the MCC’s support for expansion of the N1 highway (a critical road that connects farmers to airports, markets and sea ports) is coordinated with efforts to expand agriculture production outside of Accra.  The expanded highway will significantly reduce the time and cost of bringing ag products like these pineapples to market, which will increase productivity and competitiveness, and in turn, returns to farmers.

-Tony Fratto

Cross-posted from our friends at the (RED) Blog who are currently travelling with ONE through Ghana. Day 4 of our listening/learning trip.

After an incredibly educational trip to Ethiopia, we have finally made our way to one of the four countries that (RED) money is working in – Ghana. Boy, it’s HOT here!

Today we’re planning on visiting facilities that are funded by the Global Fund and supported by (RED) – I’m really looking forward to seeing our (RED) money at work. (RED) money goes directly to The Global Fund which invests it in HIV/AIDS programs on the ground in Africa. We’re very proud of the fact that the every cent of the donation that any of our (PRODUCT) RED partners such as Apple or Gap sends to the Global Fund from the sale of a (RED) product gets to Africa –no overhead is taken out.

We are on our way to see two hospitals where we will learn more about HIV testing, counseling, and ARV treatment. One of the hospitals focuses on prevention of mother to child transmission and hopefully we will get to meet some of the mothers and their infants who have successfully completed the transmission treatment. More than 70,000 HIV positive pregnant women have received preventative antiretroviral therapy to reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission due to support from funds from the Global Fund and (RED) so this will mean a lot to us.

Our trip so far has been amazing. We have met so many people here that are affected by a variety of challenges and yet still stay so strong, determined and hopeful in the face of their adversity. Meeting them has been my favorite part so far. We’ll be reporting back later on today’s visits.

Molly @ (RED)

Over the past decade, Ethiopia has made great strides in enrolling children in primary school. Thanks to significant new investments by the government and donor partners, primary school enrollment rates more than doubled between 1999 and 2007 (from 34% to 71%). However, the rate of transition to secondary school remains low and employment opportunities for youth who do graduate are limited.

On day 3 of our trip to Africa, we were able to witness and discuss these successes and challenges first-hand, as we visited the Ministry of Education for a meeting with senior Ministry officials and also visited a local primary school. Here are some photos I took.

-Morgana Wingard

Morgana Wingard is traveling with a delegation right now through Ethiopia as part of ONE’s learning/listening trip through Africa. Check out some of her photos and writings below:

Health extension workers test local villagers for malaria at this station. They typically see 5-6 cases a week except in outbreaks when they can see around 30 each day. Malaria nets are purchased by UNICEF with funds from USAID, the World Bank, and the PMI initiative and distributed through posts like these.

Rapid malaria tests performed by health extension workers at the Adama Health Post. Rory from UNICEF holds them up to display to advance team. National health system clinic partially funded by PMI through USAID.

Rapid malaria tests performed by health extension workers at the Adama Health Post. Rory from UNICEF holds them up to display to advance team. National health system clinic partially funded by PMI through USAID.

USAID funded internal residual spraying with DDT to prevent malaria.

Mosquitos and larvae for testing purposes. The larvae are 25th generation mosquitos who have never been exposed to pesticides.

Health extension worker at the Adama health post. There are 15,000 villages in Ethiopia. Two women from each village were selected to become health extension workers after year long training. The program is intended to extend primary health care servides and education throughout Ethiopia. There are now 30,000 health extension workers in Ethiopia. Part of the program is paid for by the gov’t. Other contributers include Gates Foundation, PEPFAR, PMI, and the Global Fund.

A look at day two from our delegation traveling through Ethiopia and Ghana. Learn more about their trip here.

What was one of today’s great highlights? Efficiency, energy and entrepreneurialism harnessed around Ethiopia’s oldest product: coffee. For someone that treasures their morning latte, it was truly an inspirational lesson.

Ethiopian’s take their coffee seriously, which is not surprising given that it contributes 60% of their export earnings (valued at $525 million) and employs 15 million farmers.

Our first briefing was at the Coffee Cooperative, an efficient model of scalable enterprise that provides farmers with a platform to sell their coffee. Over the last decade, this cooperative has successfully grown in size and scale.

Our next stop was the “Coffee Plant and Warehouse Enterprise,” a plant that processes over 600 metric tons of coffee per year. We were immediately captivated by the “Stacking and Storage Plant,” the spot where the Cooperative coffee first arrives from various farms. The delivery team of 150 unload the bags from the truck and run with lightning speed—with the 85 kilo bag on their head—to their next teammate, who stacks the unsorted coffee bags on a trolley and runs even faster to deposit the bags into the sorting area. Next, four durable machines sort the beans by grade, depositing them into the “sorting room.” Here, 200 women hand sort the beans, the sound of their peaceful efficiency in stark contrast to the high-pitched hum of the earlier machines. Finally, the sorted coffee is stored until the order is fulfilled and sent to the port of Djibouti.

And why the speed of the runners, who deliver 85 kilo bags with great hollering and cheering during an eight hour day? Load balancing of the four processing machines ensures consistency of operation. Now that’s a stimulant!

This energetic plant employs approximately 1000 people – 380 contractors, 400 women and 150 delivery men. Plum jobs are the permanent employees – paid over one dollar per day, with eligibility for an annual bonus, limited healthcare and the opportunity to benefit from the sale of the “by product husks.” Temporary workers are paid 50 cents a day, with a three month contract.

Our last stop of the day was a true inspiration. The Ethiopia Coffee Exchange (ECX), founded by Dr. Eleni Gabre-Madhin, opened in April 2008. The ECX, an open outcry system, now trades 100% of Ethiopia’s coffee, plus a portion of other grains. This is Africa’s first electronic commodity exchange: a model of trust, transparency and integrity. Now that’s inspiring entrepreneurialism!

-Juliet Flint

Our first on-the-ground post from our delegation traveling through Ethiopia and Ghana. Learn more about our trip here.

Yesterday we spent time at the Mother-to-Mother program at Adama Referral Hospital in Ethiopia. The hospital is a comprehensive HIV/AIDS service site, currently providing over 12,000 people with HIV care and more than 7,300 people with antiretroviral therapy.

The Mother-to-Mother program offers support groups for expectant mothers who are newly diagnosed with HIV. Mothers already living with HIV gather with expectant mothers recently diagnosed with HIV to mentor, educate and listen to each other.

Visiting with the mothers at the Mother-to-Mother program was a rare opportunity for an intimate discussion. We were able to speak on a personal level with mothers suffering from HIV, but these women didn’t speak of suffering. They spoke of surviving. They were gathered together to support one another through the experience of having a child while being HIV positive. I was moved by their stories and their perseverance. They were attending support groups twice a week, working to be strong mothers to their children and helping to spread the word about HIV prevention. As our discussion ended, one woman asked that we not forget them. My memory is strong. It was a true honor.

-Kathleen Biden

UPDATED: Here’s Maggie Williams on her visit to the Mother-to-Mother program

And here is Senator John Sununu on the Mother-to-Mother program