Report: 5,000-plus Deaths Under Ethiopia’s Tigray Blockade

😇 ገብርኤል 👉 ማርያም 👉 ኡራኤል 👉 ጊዮርጊስ 👉 ተክለ ሐይማኖት 👉 ዮሴፍ 👉 መድኃኔ ዓለም

👉 Courtesy: ABC News

Nearly 1,500 people died of malnutrition in just part of Ethiopia’s blockaded Tigray region over a four-month period last year, including more than 350 young children, a new report by the region’s health bureau says

Nearly 1,500 people died of malnutrition in just part of Ethiopia’s blockaded Tigray region over a four-month period last year, including more than 350 young children, a new report by the region’s health bureau says. It cites more than 5,000 blockade-related deaths in all from hunger and disease in the largest official death toll yet associated with the country’s war.

“Deaths are alarmingly increasing,” including from easily preventable diseases like rabies as medicines run out or expire, the head of Tigray’s health bureau, Hagos Godefay, told The Associated Press late last year as the findings were being compiled. “This is one of the worst times of my life, I can tell you.”

His report on the findings, published Wednesday by the independent Ethiopia Insight, says 5,421 deaths were confirmed in Tigray between July and October in an assessment by his bureau and some international aid groups. It was the first such assessment since the war between Tigray and Ethiopian forces began in November 2020, he said.

The deaths were overwhelmingly from malnutrition, infectious disease and noncommunicable diseases as the health bureau and partners sought to gauge the effects on Tigray’s population of its health system being largely destroyed by combatants.

The deaths do not reflect people killed in combat, Hagos told the AP on Thursday in a call from the Tigray capital, Mekele, though the report reflects a small percentage of deaths from airstrikes.

The mortality assessment covered just roughly 40% of Tigray, he said, since occupation of some areas by combatants and the lack of fuel caused by the blockade has limited data-gathering and aid delivery.

“Since the magnitude of the destruction and health crisis in the inaccessible areas is undoubtedly high, the survey is bound to underreport the real extent of the crisis,” Hagos wrote.

Severe acute malnutrition in children under 5, at less than 2% in Tigray before the war, was now above 7%, he said. The assessment found at least 369 children under 5 had died of malnutrition, part of 1,479 people in all.

The AP last year confirmed the first starvation deaths under the blockade along with the government’s ban on humanitarian workers bringing medicines. even personal ones, into Tigray,

Hagos told the AP that without medical supplies or vaccines, easily preventable disease like measles were emerging in Tigray and COVID-19 has begun to spread. HIV patients “are coming all the time to my office to ask if drugs are coming or not. But my hands are tied,” he said. Earlier this month, the United Nations said Ethiopia’s government had released over 850,000 measles vaccines to Tigray,

Ethiopia’s government cut off almost all access to food aid, medical supplies, cash and fuel in June last year when the Tigray forces regained control of the region. Since then, the United Nations has repeatedly warned that less than 15% of the needed supplies have been entering Tigray under what it called a de facto humanitarian blockade. Ethiopia’s government has expressed concern about aid falling into the hands of fighters.

But under a new wave of pressure this month after Tigray forces retreated back into their region amid a military offensive, Ethiopia’s foreign ministry in a statement on Sunday said it was working with aid partners to facilitate daily cargo flights to Tigray “to transport much-needed medicines and supplies.” The government in part has blamed issues with aid delivery on insecurity it says is caused by Tigray forces.

It is not clear when the daily flights will begin, though the International Committee of the Red Cross on Wednesday announced that it had made its first delivery of medical supplies to Tigray since September, calling it “a huge relief.”

An ICRC spokeswoman told the AP that the cargo of surgical supplies and essential drugs would help to treat at least 200 injured people, and that the group intends to send more supplies in the coming days and weeks.

Ethiopian government spokesman Legesse Tulu and Health Minister Lia Tadesse did not immediately respond to questions on Thursday about the daily flights and when the government’s blockade would be lifted completely to allow full access to the region.

Ethiopia’s government has sought to restrict reporting on the war and detained some journalists under the state of emergency, including a video freelancer accredited to the AP, Amir Aman Kiyaro.+

Source

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False Banana: Ethiopia’s ENSET ‘Wondercrop’ is The Answer to Food Scarcity

😈 ከጦርነቱ መንፈሳዊና ስጋዊ ተልዕኮዎች መካከል፤

❖ እንሰትን + ጤፍን + እጣንን መውረስ ይገኝበታል

💭 A Crop Virtually Unknown Outside Ethiopia | False Banana

While climate change disrupts farming practices, a crop named false banana could be the answer to food scarcity issues. Scientists say that it has the potential to feed more than 100 million people.

💭 ከኢትዮጵያ ውጪ የማይታወቅ ሰብል ለምግብ እጥረት መልሱ | እንሰት

የአየር ንብረት ለውጥ የግብርና ተግባራትን ቢያስተጓጉልም፣ የውሸት ሙዝ የሚባል ሰብል ለምግብ እጥረት ችግሮች መፍትሄ ሊሆን ይችላል። ሳይንቲስቶች እንደሚሉት ከ መቶ ሚሊዮን በላይ ሰዎችን የመመገብ አቅም አለው።

💭 የኢትዮጵያ እንሰት፡ በዓለም የአየር ንብረት ለውጥ ላይ ተስፋን የፈነጠቀው ልዕለ ምግብ

ሳይንቲስቶች በኢትዮጵያ ከዋነኛ ተክሎች አንዱ የሆነው እንሰት በአየር ንብረት ለውጥ በርካታ ቀውሶችን እያስተናገደች ላለችው ዓለም ልዕለ ምግብ እንዲሁም ነፍስ አድን ሊሆን ይችላል እያሉ ነው።

ሙዝ መሳዩ ተክል እየሞቀች ባለችው ዓለም 100 ሚሊዮን በላይ ሰዎችን የመመገብ አቅም እንዳለው አንድ አዲስ ጥናት አመልክቷል።

እንሰት ከኢትዮጵያ ውጪ ባይታወቅም በገንፎና ቆጮ መልኩ ተሰርቶ ለምግብነት ይውላል። ጥናቱ እንደሚያመለክተው ተክሉ በአፍሪካ ሰፋ ባለ መጠን ሊበቅል ይችላል።

“ይህ ተክል የምግብ ዋስትናን እና የዘላቂ ልማት ችግሮችን በመቅረፍ ረገድ ከፍተኛ ሚና የሚጫወት ነው” ሲሉ በሐዋሳ ዩኒቨርስቲ መምህር የሆኑት ዶክተር ወንዳወርቅ አበበ ይናገራሉ።

በተለምዶ “ፎልስ ባናና” ተብሎ የሚጠራው እንሰት ከሙዝ ዝርያ ጋር ቅርበት ያለው ቢሆንም በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ለምግብነት የሚውለው በተወሰኑ ቦታዎች ነው።

የእንሰት ሙዝ የመሰለ ፍሬው ባይበላም በካርቦሃይድሬት የበለጸገው የተክሉ ዘለላዎች እንዲሁም ስሩ እርሾ በሚኖረው መልኩ ገንፎና ቆጮ ለመስራት አገልግሎት ላይ ይውላል።

እንሰት በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ 20 ሚሊዮን የሚሆኑ ሕዝቦቿ ዋነኛ ምግብ ቢሆንም በሌሎች አገራት ግን ሲመረት አይታይም።

ከእንሰት ጋር ተመሳሳይ የሆኑና እንደ ምግብነት የማይቆጠሩ ተክሎች እስከ ደቡብ አፍሪካ ድረስ መብቀላቸው ታይቷል። ይህም ተክሉ ሰፊ ክልልን በመሸፈን መቋቋም እንደሚችል የጠቆመ ነው።

ሳይንቲስቶች የግብርና ዳሰሳዎች እንዲሁም የተከላ ሥራ በመስራት እንሰት በሚቀጥሉት አራት አስርት ዓመታት ውስጥ ሊኖረው የሚችለውን አቅም ተንብየዋል።

ሰብሉ ከ100 ሚሊዮን በላይ ሰዎችን መመገብ የሚችል ሲሆን በኢትዮጵያ እንዲሁም ኬንያ፣ ኡጋንዳ እና ሩዋንዳ ባሉ ሌሎች የአፍሪካ አገራት የምግብ ዋስትናን እንደሚያሳድግ ጠቁመዋል።

ሮያል ቦታኒክ ጋርደንስ፣ ኪው የተባለው ተቋም የጥናት ተመራማሪ የሆኑት ዶክተር ጄምስ ቦረል እንሰት በአስቸጋሪ ወቅት የምግብ ዋስትናን ለማሳደግ እንደ መከታ የሚጠቅም ሰብል እንደሆነም ያስረዳሉ።

“እንሰት ከሌሎች ሰብሎች ፍፁም ልዩ የሚያደርጉት አንዳንድ ያልተለመዱ ባህርያት አሉት” የሚሉት ዶክተር ጄምስ ይህንንም ሲያስረዱ “በማንኛውም ጊዜ መተከል፣ ምርቱን መሰብሰብና ለረዥም ጊዜ መቆየት ይችላል። ለዚያም ነው ፀረ-ረሃብ ተክል የሚል ስያሜ ያገኘው” ይላሉ።

ቡናን ጨምሮ የበርካታ ሰብሎች መገኛ የሆነችው ኢትዮጵያ በአፍሪካም የእንሰት ሰብል መዳረሻ ናት።

የአየር ንብረት ለውጥ በአፍሪካ እና ከዚያ ባሻገር በምርታማነት እንዲሁም በዋና የምግብ ሰብሎች ስርጭት ላይ ከፍተኛ ተጽእኖ እንደሚያሳድር ተተንብይዋል።

ከዚህም ጋር ተያይዞ በጥቂት ሰብሎች ላይ ጥገኛ የሆነውን ዓለምን ለመመገብ አዳዲስ ሰብሎችን የመፈለግ ሁኔታው እየጨመረ ይገኛል።

ከምንመገባቸው ምግቦች ውስጥ ግማሽ የሚጠጋውን ካሎሪ የምናገኘው ከሦስት ሰብል ዝርያዎች ነው፤ እነዚህም ሩዝ፣ ስንዴና በቆሎ ናቸው።

“በአሁኑ ጊዜ ሁሉም ሰብሎቻችን በጣት የሚቆጠሩ ስለሆኑ በዓለም አቀፍ ደረጃ የምንጠቀምባቸውን ሰብሎች አይነት ማብዛት ይገባናል” ይላሉ ዶክተር ጄምስ ቦሬል።

👉 ይህ ጥናት ኢንቫይሮመንታል ሪሰርች ሌተርስ ላይ ታትሟል።

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Koba/False Banana – History Of The Enset Culture

Cultural and linguistic evidences concerning the origin and distribution of Enset culture seem to point generally in the same direction.

Enset was part of a widespread and ancient system of cultivation of vegetative crops formerly distributed much more widely through the Ethiopian highlands. The main cultivators of enset were Omotic-speakers, though it was probably adopted early by some groups of Cushitic-speakerts.

However, Ethio-Semites brought seed agriculture and the plough, Enset and other root crops such as Yams (Dioscorea spp.) and the Labiates (Coleus spp.) were pushed into residual cultivation, except where the terrain was so highly dissected that ploughing was effectively impossible.

In this situation, notably in the southwest, the Gurage Semitic-speakers adopted Enset and it became central to their production system, to their way of eating (Qocho & Bulla are processed from Enset, and are typical cuisines of the Gurage people) permitting the expansion of population to levels such that no other crop would support comparable densities in similar terrain.

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