The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is working with farmers in Ethiopia to restore soils and protect farmland for future generations of food producers.
Many conventional practices are “not friendly,” to the natural environment, leading to soil degradation, Moti Jaleta, a Senior Agricultural Economist with CIMMYT tells Food Tank.
That’s why CIMMYT is working to introduce the idea of sustainable intensification, an approach that increases productivity while bringing positive social and environmental impacts. Minimal or zero tillage, crop rotation, and intercropping can all help farmers prevent soil erosion.
“We are trying our best to introduce conservation practices that help farmers reclaim their lands and also bring back soil fertility and then make it more sustainable for use for the next generation,” Jaleta says.
In addition to crops, farmers in the Highlands typically raise animals as part of an integrated crop-livestock system — one that CIMMYT wants to help optimize. “They’re interdependent,” Jaleta tells Food Tank, explaining that crop residue can be used as animal feed. “They are supporting each other.”
Listen to the full conversation with Moti Jaleta on “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg” to hear more about the sustainable practices that CIMMYT is helping farmers adopt, the impact of declining development assistance on the future of agricultural transformation in sub-Saharan Africa, and the AI tools that are helping food producers adapt to changing weather patterns.
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