Mechanization: an individual solution

Farmer Eshetu is one of millions of Ethiopian farmers who still cultivate their fields with oxen. He simply does not have enough money to rent or even buy modern tractors. In addition, his small farm is far from paved roads and is virtually inaccessible for heavy machinery.

‘We first had to come to terms with this fact’, recalls project manager Andrea Wilhelmi from the Green Innovation Centres. ‘At the beginning of the project, we entered into partnerships with European machine manufacturers for several countries. Our motto was to stimulate the local market by introducing modern technology.’

The only problem was: without a market there is nothing to be stimulated. This forced everyone to rethink the strategy. Since then, the Green Innovation Centre in Ethiopia has been supporting local inventors in the development of simple and affordable equipment. One of them is young inventor Alemayehu: his mechanical device for sowing wheat in rows – called ART – is pulled by oxen. Farmer Eshetu bought it for the equivalent of 230 euros.

The investment is paying for itself: ‘I’m harvesting one tonne more per hectare than before’, summarises Eshetu and explains the advantages of the innovation: ‘With ART we don’t have to walk behind the ox and throw the seeds one by one into the groove. The device takes care of all of it.’

In no time Eshetu also convinced his neighbours: ‘Someone even invested money and time to adapt ART for his purposes – the machine is now less bulky for transport between his fields.’

The farmer from the Arsi region also replaced his traditional wooden plough with a new metal version – the so-called Berken Maresha. This enables him to prepare one hectare of land for sowing in just one or two days – a big difference compared to the hard work that took twice as long before.

Whether ART and Berken Maresha will prevail in the long term depends, among other things, on how durable they are, especially in particularly hard soil.

However, the Green Innovation Centres have already learned their lessons: ‘We need both, concepts for the local production of agricultural machinery and investments by German and international companies, especially for larger farms’, says Andrea Wilhelmi. ‘However, the latter must be coupled with the development of user and repair services at the local level.’