- Ethiopia
Derege Denkutie, 36, is a farmer living in Central Ethiopia. His latest and greatest pride is his newly constructed shed for his new cow. This is completely new experience for him. “I have always wanted to do it, but didn’t know how to start. Now I have a cow and sell milk to the cooperative earning more money than I ever imagined.”
Derege was able to start this after watching a dairy management video, thanks to the Digital Green, a highly innovative program, implemented by Oxfam, Sasakawa Africa Association, a local partner and, the Ethiopian ministry of Agriculture.
In Digital Green, farmers can learn new skills thanks to videoa made by other farmers in the region, with the help of Development Agents (DA), whose role is to support farmers.
Derege learnt from a video, but he also made one: “I used to make compost in a traditional way, so I was more than happy when the DAs approached me to learn and demonstrate a new and modern way to do it.” Derege has always been open to new technologies and has close relations with the district DAs and the community.
He’s an excited supporter of Digital Green and already has ideas for the future: “How about irrigation, so that we can grow fruits and vegetables all year round? We do get excess water during the rainy season!”
“We need to have more farmers trained and do as much as we can by ourselves, so we do not get stuck when a DA leaves or is not available for one reason or another.”
Photo: Oxfam
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