Feed a hungry child, and he may be hungry again tomorrow. Teach his family to grow a sustainable food supply, and he may never be hungry again.
About the Project
Ethiopia is an ancient, biblical land that prides itself on having 3000 years of recorded history. In 1991, following a long confrontation with Eritrea, Ethiopia became a landlocked country surrounded by Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, Eritrea and French Djibouti. It is the second most populous African nation with nearly 84 million people, and the tenth largest African country by area. It is the source of over 85% of the total Nile River water flow, including the resulting annual floods in Egypt following the runoff in the Ethiopian Highlands. It is a land filled with a rich cultural and diverse history; a study of Ethiopian heritage inevitably surfaces from any historical review of the African continent, Judeo-Christian religions, or ongoing geopolitical events.
Ethiopia underwent a series of famines documented by the world media during the 1980s, exacerbated by adverse influences and civil war, resulting in the death of more than seven million Ethiopians. Today, in spite of less upheaval, 42% of Ethiopian children under the age of five are still underweight. It is estimated that half of all children die prior to reaching five years of age, and the average Ethiopian’s life span is approximately 41 years.
In 1969, Charlie Higgins and his wife joined the Peace Corps right out of college and were assigned to Ethiopia. During the two years Charlie served as a teacher in the central Ethiopian Highlands, his heart was captured by the sight of underfed children nearly everywhere he traveled in this exotic but primitive country. He has never been able to forget those children.
As an American potato farmer and university instructor, Charlie has combined his doctorate in Agronomy with his sincere interest in Ethiopian food issues. He has put together a practical program for improving food sustainability during times of drought for the Ethiopian population. Educating interested farmers in growing and drying techniques has increased potato production in countryside villages and rural areas. A cup of dried potato, water, some readily available spices, along with some beans, lentils or soy powder can provide a child with the required daily nutrients and calories to sustain life through a time of drought.
Ethiopia underwent a series of famines documented by the world media during the 1980s, exacerbated by adverse influences and civil war, resulting in the death of more than seven million Ethiopians. Today, in spite of less upheaval, 42% of Ethiopian children under the age of five are still underweight. It is estimated that half of all children die prior to reaching five years of age, and the average Ethiopian’s life span is approximately 41 years.
In 1969, Charlie Higgins and his wife joined the Peace Corps right out of college and were assigned to Ethiopia. During the two years Charlie served as a teacher in the central Ethiopian Highlands, his heart was captured by the sight of underfed children nearly everywhere he traveled in this exotic but primitive country. He has never been able to forget those children.
As an American potato farmer and university instructor, Charlie has combined his doctorate in Agronomy with his sincere interest in Ethiopian food issues. He has put together a practical program for improving food sustainability during times of drought for the Ethiopian population. Educating interested farmers in growing and drying techniques has increased potato production in countryside villages and rural areas. A cup of dried potato, water, some readily available spices, along with some beans, lentils or soy powder can provide a child with the required daily nutrients and calories to sustain life through a time of drought.
In this project, the local farmers are provided with the initial disease-resistant seed potatoes from a tissue lab organized by Charlie in northwestern Ethiopia. They are shown how to construct potato drying racks and storage facilities from readily acquired materials. This process becomes self-sustaining for the farmers as they arrange to trade part of their potato crop every three years for clean seed potatoes. Those potato payments are used to start additional potato projects and school nutrition programs.
Since 2007 Charlie has been raising money and working with up to five demonstration sites at a time to establish a sustainable, disease-free, potato crop. In conjunction with Ethiopian agricultural engineers and nutritionists, all of Charlie’s chosen rural village sites have been successful in attaining their construction of potato storage and drying apparatus, as well as exceeding their individual potato production goals.
The potato can be dried and preserved following harvest; the local grain cannot. Therefore, this potato project has the potential to resolve the cyclical famine disasters that will continue to ravage Ethiopia during periods of drought. Charlie’s knowledge of potatoes, his understanding of how to make things happen in a unique 3000-year-old culture, and his willingness to devote his energy to auditing the progress of the program by returning annually to Ethiopia at his own expense and time, make this a truly remarkable, worthwhile, and effective program worthy of our support.
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