The wealth of Africa depends on her ability to conserve and manage her land resources. It is a well-known fact that soil degradation not only results in decreased food production but also in droughts, ecological imbalance and consequent degradation of the quality of life. In Africa, the most conspicuous symptoms of the negative impact of land degradation on food production are stagnating and declining yields and increasing levels of poverty. 

Source: FAO Article

Most Ethiopians are farmers. Whatever else they do – teach, preach or run a shop, at least 85% of Ethiopians are growing food on a field scale.

Unfortunately, Ethiopia has catastrophic rates of soil erosion. Soil erosion rates on farmland in much of the country are a minimum of 50 tonnes per hectare per year, and in some places are in excess of 250 tonnes per hectare per year. The obvious result is declining crop yields, and thus most Ethiopians struggle to make ends meet – even in good years.

To get an idea of what 250 tonnes of soil erosion per hectare looks like imagine an International Rugby Union field, a 400m track, or an American baseball pitch (the calculator site). They measure on average 1ha. Then imagine 1 dump truck removing 13 full loads of soil from those sports fields every year. It would only take a few years before those sports fields resembled a stone quarry.

The Ethiopian government is currently in the process of building a huge dam which will preserve water and catch the soil coming off their fields and prevent it from being lost to neighbouring countries. This project has become quite controversial because the neighbouring countries are lamenting the loss of the rich Ethiopian soil that benefits their agriculture but which is a tragic loss for Ethiopia (see Daily Maverick).

If the gospel – the ‘good news’ – is really good, then it is news that is as good for the land, soil and crops as it is for the soul. It means that the degradation of the land is being reversed through wise stewardship.

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The first day and a half were interesting. Our sense was that the message was, to a large extent, incomprehensible to the majority. As soon as we suggested that we mustn’t plow our fields, the class was lost. We taught clearly how plowing destroys the soil structure, and how the resulting crusting, slumping and plow pan destroys fertility. Even when the students began to understand the reasons for not plowing, it wasn’t until we showed how to plant without plowing that the news became good for them.

Still there were the early epiphanies. One older man told us that half the way through that first day, he ran outside and quickly called his son on his cell phone. “Stop ploughing the land, son. We are not going to plough our land any more!” His son was in the midst of seasonal ploughing and the father knew that if change were to happen it must begin in the immediate moment.

The assumption in Ethiopia is that plowing is good for the fertility, and that a farmer who doesn’t plow multiple times is a lazy farmer! Some farmers plough 3 times each season before planting. This incredible commitment of time and effort by Ethiopian farmers presents us an opportunity to channel such diligent work ethic into practices that enhance the soil rather than year after year depleting it. Being able to effectively farm with less toil, intentional productive methods and more bountiful yield, has the potential to transform a farmer’s quality of life as well. To see farming practices change on a large scale in Ethiopia is going to take time, effort and relationally-based training.

We are excited. EMCC has had a long term relationship with The Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church which has 9000 congregations and 150 bible training schools. If each training school had a small demonstration / training garden, and one leader to champion the good news of Farming God’s Way, we could see the nation changed.

Both times he has been to Ethiopia, Dan has seen mega-trucks hauling Western food aid. We dream of a day when the Kingdom of Heaven has transformed the farm land in Ethiopia to the extent they will store grain in good years in preparation for their times of cyclical drought and that the country of Ethiopia will no longer suffer from catastrophic famine and debilitating dependence on foreign aid. We also dream of the day when Ethiopia will be a giver and will offer relief itself to other countries. In God’s kingdom, it is possible and we as the church need to mobilize all our efforts to see the Kingdom come.

We are investigating the possibility of a follow-up training in 2018 and trying to determine when it will be the most effective as well as when there will be enough financial resources on the Ethiopian side to facilitate it. Pray with us for wisdom for the leadership of the Kale Heywet churches and the Amharic bible schools – that we would see restoration and reconciliation of land, people, communities, and the nations!