The inclusion of agroforestry systems like fruits in the Green Legacy Initiative is critical in ensuring food security, according to the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).
The Resilience, Climate and Soil Fertility Head at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Tilahun Amede told ENA that the Green Legacy Initiative has multiple objectives.
“One is re-greening to address the concerns of climate change and sequester more carbon. For us in the country, it is a source of fuel wood and food as well as many other services.” he said.
To this end, “I think the Green Legacy, including the inclusion of agro-forestry systems like fruits and multiple purposes, is really critical in ensuring food security.”
But what is more important is managing the planed and making them sustainable; and that cannot be implemented through campaign.
The seedlings “should be owned by the communities and farmers. I think the Green Legacy Initiative should then be cascaded down. It’s a responsibility to the farmers and the communities and the local actors,” he stated.
According to the head, Ethiopia has probably invested in this much more than any other country. But what’s remaining is to make sure that this is sustainable.
“What is now invested in land management is converted to productive use and farmers are getting money and food. The investment is converted to benefit and that is where sustainability comes,” Tilahun elaborated.
The head pointed out that by making sure that the public investment is supported by the private sector, individuals could start to own it and make sure that the benefits are not only shared but the culture transformed.
For him, Ethiopia has started well, but it has a long way to go because the country did a bit in the highlands.
The country has embarked on rehabilitating landscapes, managing the soil through sustainable land management and water management for the last 40 years.
During the last four years alone, Ethiopia has planted 25 billion seedlings under the Green Legacy Initiative, a flagship program initiated by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in June 2019.
Source: Ethiopian News Agency