Fighting Disease:  Eritrea

Increasing Food Production

Agriculture accounted for 50 percent of Eritrea's gross domestic product when The Carter Center, in partnership with the Eritrean Ministry of Agriculture and the Sasakawa Africa Association, began food security programming in 1996.

Bordering the Red Sea with a semiarid climate, most of Eritrea's crop production takes place in the highlands. Farmers use traditional methods to produce sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet, barley, and teff. When the program began, there were consistent food shortages, which forced the nation to import several hundred thousand tons of grain each year.

The Carter Center-Sasakawa Africa Association partnership began working in Eritrea to help the nation grow more of its own food, thus preventing famine and starvation. The prescription was simple: Farmers were provided with credit for fertilizers and seeds to grow production test plots. Following successful harvests, which usually exceeded previous harvests by 200 to 400 percent, the farmers taught their neighbors about the new technologies, creating a ripple effect to stimulate food self-sufficiency in the nation.

In Eritrea, programming began with a survey of rural areas to determine which kinds of crops would be best suited for development. Wheat, barley, maize, and sorghum were planted in 192 management training plots in the Seraye, Hamassien, and Akeleguzay provinces in central and southern Eritrea. Nearly 46 villages were involved in this enterprise in 1986. These plots used new farming and fertilizer technology to determine what crops would be most productive for the regions. By 1997, the movement expanded to education, hosting field days mainly in Seraye province, where more than 1,300 farmers were learning about the new farming techniques.

Due to Eritrean government's strong participation, the program grew tremendously to approximately 100,000 farmers. Yields obtained on the demonstration plots were two to three times higher than those cultivated through traditional practices.

Adopting new technologies to improve crop yields is only half the battle, as farmers then must find ways to sell their surplus crops. The program helped identify local markets for these surpluses, because transporting them can be costly and inefficient. Projects also focused on post-harvest technologies, including methods for processing and storing. Neighboring countries in the program that share crop seasons were encouraged to foster lasting cooperative efforts.

These successes and others in agricultural development programming led the partnership to end its in-country agricultural activities in Eritrea in 1999.

Read more about the Carter Center's agriculture work — with the Sasakawa-Africa Association — in
Eritrea >