Build victory gardens for 500 Ethiopian households

Dear Supporters,

 Recent fears of people in the Horn of Africa where our project is located has been fear of famine due to the ongoing desert locust infestation. The locust invasion is still ongoing and might go to other countries in the region. People are responding the way they know as there are no adequate and pricise pest control system to kill the loust when they are ebing hatched and other side effects of the chemicals.

There have been appeals and early warnings of locust invastion by the UN FAO since the beginning of summer and the potential for disaster. Communities have been responding to protect their fields using tradtional methods. This biblical pest has been scaring people around the Horn of Africa and the Sahel for many generations. This is happening during the harvest season. Evne last week (12/13/19) the UN FAO wrote that the Desert Locust is ravaging the Horn of Africa. According to Relief Web The FAO appealed " for scaling up of prevention and control measures to abate crop loses."

Regional governments and the East Africa Desert Locust Control in Nairobi has been very weak in mobilizing resources. The civil war in Yemen, where the locust oriniated has also contributed to the crisis. The precarious food security situation in the region is becoming worst.  The unseasonal rainfall in teh region is good for pasture, but it is also great for locust breeding and infestation. There is a need for institutional building in disaster risk management local forasting of hazards such as Locust and pest infestation. For more clarification about the locust situation please look here (http://www.ccb-boulder.org/desert-locust-invasion-in-the-horn-of-africa-what-happened-to-the-disaster-preparedness-and-response-actions/).

In the highlands of Ethiopia where the Fall harvest is in swing farmers are harvesting their crops to avoid being eaten by locust. Harvesting early is a tradtional risk management to gather what ever is available.

I am planning to travel to the project areas in conjunction with personal trip to Ethiopia in January. I plan to share with the current status of the project and next steps.  I will also evaluate the pilot project needed repairs and any demands from the participants.

Thank you for your ongoing support and have a great Holday season. Happy New Year,  Merry X-Mass and Happy Hanukkah. May 2010 bring you great health, happiness, love and success in your lives. Thank you.