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Major Crops and Cropping Systems in Dogu’a Tembien
Abstract
Settled agriculture in Tigray started at least 3000 years ago. Its long history is reflected in the high agricultural biodiversity, including endemic crops, such as the emblematic cereal tef (Eragrostis tef).
... A variety of lemon that is widespread in the Middle East and also in Tigray (Alemtsehay Tsegay et al., 2019). It is a large fragrant citrus fruit, a huge, rough lemon with a thick rind, which is consumed. ...
The Afromontane biogeographic region includes plant species found in Africa's highlands. Temperatures in these regions are comparable to those encountered in temperate climates, with the major temperature contrast being between day and night. The Dogu'a Tembien massif in Tigray is a ‘sky island’, that served as model for the establishment of a modest Afromontane floral park. The garden, dedicated to the slain Tigray people, was established in 2023 and has ten woody, four herbaceous, one palm and one succulent species. The garden is managed organically, with compost and horse manure used as fertilizers, no herbicides, and only a metaldehyde-based molluscicide. Geomembrane sheets are used to limit the abundant local vegetation, and plant labels are prepared in French with scientific and Tigrinya names in small lettering.
... How about crop cultivation in such war conditions? Kremti is the main (summer) rainy season in Tigray, when cropping takes place (Alemtsehay, Abrha, and Hruy 2019). Due to intense fighting in the first half of 2021, there have herbicide over Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos (Westing 1972). ...
During the 2021 conflict in Tigray (north Ethiopia) crop cultivation has been hampered by warfare. Oxen have been looted and killed, farm inputs and tools destroyed by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers. Farmers felt vulnerable out in the open with their oxen. To produce, farmers evaluated risks involved with ploughing and organised lookouts. Overall, a large part of the land had been tilled in difficult conditions, and crops sown that require minimal management, without fertiliser, what led to low yields. True Colour Composite images, produced from Sentinel satellite imagery show that smallholder irrigation schemes were operational. There was a shift from commercial crops to cereals. The situation in western Tigray was particular, as there has been ethnic cleansing of the population and often the 2020 rainfed crops had even not been harvested. Overall, our findings show that the Tigrayan smallholder farming system is resilient, thanks to community self-organisation, combining common strategies of agrarian societies in wartime: spatio-temporal shift in agricultural activities to avoid the proximity with soldiers and shifts in crop types. Rather unique is the relying on communal aid, while the blockade of the Tigray region made that outmigration and off-farm income were no options for the farmers.
... More than three quarters of the people of Tigray depend on agriculture mainly coming from subsistence farming (Regional State of Tigray 2018). Farmers typically prepare their land during the spring season (March-May) for cropping during the summer rainy season (Gebrehiwot et al. 2022;Tsegay et al. 2019). The farmers start their preparation even earlier than March, as the land preparation requires ploughing multiple times (Gebreegziabher et al. 2009). ...
Military conflicts strongly affect agricultural activities. This has strong implications for people’s livelihoods when agriculture is the backbone of the economy. We assessed the effect of the Tigray conflict on farming activities using freely available remote sensing data. For detecting greenness, a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was analyzed in Google Earth Engine (GEE) using Sentinel 2 satellite images acquired in the pre-war (2020) and during war (2021) spring seasons. CHIRPS data were analyzed in GEE to understand the rainfall conditions. The NDVI of 2020 showed that farmlands were poorly covered with vegetation. However, in 2021, vegetation cover existed in the same season. The NDVI changes stretched from -0.72 to 0.83. The changes in greenness were categorized as increase (2167 km²), some increase (18386 km²), no change (1.6 km²), some decrease (8269 km²), and decrease (362 km²). Overall, 72% of the farmlands have seen increases in green vegetation before crops started to grow in 2021. Scattered patches with decreases in vegetation cover correspond to irrigation farms and spring-cropping rain-fed farms uncultivated in 2021. There was no clear pattern of changes in vegetation cover as a function of agro-climatic conditions. The precipitation analysis shows less rainfall in 2021 as compared to 2020, indicating that precipitation has not been an important factor. The conflict is most responsible for fallowing farmlands covered with weeds in the spring season of 2021. The use of freely accessible remote sensing data helps recognizing absence of ploughing in crisis times.
... How about crop cultivation in such war conditions? Kremti is the main (summer) rainy season in Tigray, when cropping takes place (Alemtsehay, Abrha, and Hruy 2019). Due to intense fighting in the first half of 2021, there have herbicide over Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos (Westing 1972). ...
Since November 2020, a civil war is taking place in Tigray (north Ethiopia), where about 75% of the active population are farmers. Here, we present the state of ploughing in Tigray’s war conditions, early in the 2021 rainy season and discuss contextual factors. Early May 2021, around Mekelle, very few croplands have been ploughed, as compared to the situation in previous years, verified on historical Google Earth imagery, even though the 2021 spring rains correspond to average rainfall conditions in most of Tigray. The analysis of True Colour Composite images, produced from Sentinel satellite imagery pertaining to March-May 2021, shows that, unlike plantation farms, the eleven sampled irrigation schemes with smallholder farming are all operational, with an overall increase in irrigated land by 6% as compared to 2019-2020. A partial shift from commercial crops to cereals has taken place, which requires less human presence on the fields, hence less risk for the famers to encounter soldiers and get killed. The same processed Sentinel imagery shows very poor tillage on nine sample areas with rainfed farming in western and NW Tigray (scenes of approx. 6 km x 4 km), but relatively good ploughing progress in the rest of the region with often more land ploughed than in 2020, despite less rainfall in spring. The situation in western Tigray is particular, as there has been ethnic cleansing of the population and often the 2020 rainfed crops even have not been harvested. Many lands have remained unploughed, and irrigation along the Tekeze River has been abandoned. Overall in Tigray, war conditions have made ploughing very challenging. Oxen have been looted and deliberately killed, and farm inputs and farm tools have been destroyed by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers. Furthermore, farmers who want to plough feel vulnerable out in the open; in many places, Eritrean soldiers forbid the Tigrayan farmers to plough. While trying to produce, in any case, the Tigrayan farmers evaluate all risks involved with ploughing and organise lookouts verifying that no soldiers are approaching. However, there is still hope that a large part of the land will be sown timely, in difficult conditions, with crops that require minimal management, and without fertiliser, as the Tigrayan smallholder farming system, and farmer-led irrigation schemes are resilient, thanks to the remarkable ability of self-organisation by the local farming communities.
Due to war conditions, the local farmers had to largely rely on their own crop production, mainly by subsistence farming, in Tigray, North Ethiopia. We assessed the crop stands in 2021 and evaluated the level of resilience of the indigenous farming system. Quantitative data were collected from 161 farm parcels in various ecoregions of this tropical mountain region, in order to detect the share of sown land, crop types, and their status. This participatory monitoring was accompanied by semi-structured interviews. Farmers cultivated their farms late, left it uncultivated or marginally sowed oil crops as improved fallow (28%), due to lack of farming tools, oxen, fertilizer, seeds, or manpower. As compared to peace years, only few lands were sown with sorghum as there was active warfare in the sorghum planting period. The relatively good stands of wheat and barley (47%) are in line with the farmers' priority given to cereals. Teff got a large land share because it could be sown up to the middle of the main rainy season and because farmers had consumed the seeds of their major cereal crops (wheat and barley) when hiding for warfare. Seeds left from consumption were only sown by late June, when troops had retreated, and the communities could revive. With almost no external support, the local farming system has proven to be remarkably resilient, relying on indigenous knowledge and local practices, block rotation, manure, improved fallow, changes in relative importance of crops, seed exchange, and support for one another. This is the first analysis of the socio-agronomic roots of the 2021-2022 Tigray hunger crisis, with a cereal harvest that could not at all sustain the local population as the planting season had been largely missed. The ability of the indigenous farming system to partially rebounce in times of autarky is another novel finding.
262 agricultural plots were sampled in August 2022 by a team of geographers in six Tigray districts with contrasting biophysical characteristics. 15% of the observed agricultural plots were fallowed. Cereals had been planted on three-quarters of all the parcels. 71% of the tef lands were in bad condition, while 76% of the wheat and barley fields were in good or medium condition. Spring rains were not good and there was little opportunity for growing maize, sorghum or millet. Only one quarter of all planted crops had received fertilizer, commonly in insufficient amounts. For the 2022 rainfed cropping season, less than 20% of the required fertilizer reached Tigray. Though the main rainy season was generally good, shortage of fertilizer led to poor crop stands. Improper use of Potassium fertilizer led to crop poisoning (root burn). Overall, the crop stands were slightly better compared to those of the catastrophic year 2021, and there was less fallowing. On some lands, planting was delayed in the hope of receiving fertilizer; such fields were then sown with the "latest possible" crops (tef, grasspea, chickpea).
Due to war conditions, the local farmers had to largely rely on their own crop production, mainly by subsistence farming, in Tigray, North Ethiopia. We assessed the crop stands in 2021 and evaluated the level of resilience of the indigenous farming system. Quantitative data were collected from 161 farm parcels in various ecoregions of this tropical mountain region, in order to detect the share of sown land, crop types and their status. This participatory monitoring was accompanied by semi-structured interviews. Farmers cultivated their farms late, left it uncultivated or marginally sowed oil crops as improved fallow (28%), due to lack of farming tools, oxen, fertilizer, seeds or manpower. As compared to peace years, only few lands were sown with sorghum as there was active warfare in the sorghum planting period. The relatively good stands of wheat and barley (47%) are in line with the farmers’ priority given to cereals. Teff got a large land share because it could be sown up to the middle of the main rainy season and because farmers had consumed the seeds of their major cereal crops (wheat and barley) when hiding for warfare. Seeds left from consumption were only sown by late June, when troops had retreated, and the communities could revive. With almost no external support, the local farming system has proven to be remarkably resilient, relying on indigenous knowledge and local practices, block rotation, manure, improved fallow, changes in relative importance of crops, seed exchange and support one another. This is the first analysis of the socio-agronomic roots of the 2021-2022 Tigray hunger crisis, with a cereal harvest that could not at all sustain the local population as the planting season had been largely missed. The ability of the indigenous farming system to partially rebounce in times of autarky is another novel finding.
Encyclopedia entry, compiled from dozens of scientific papers.
View the original at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degua_Tembien
with links to about 40 other, similar Wikipedia lemmas
This book is based on over 150 papers about the Dogu’a Tembien district in Ethiopia. To reach a broader public of people interested in geosites and human-environment interactions, the authors here add a geoguide about this mountain district in Ethiopia(13°30’ N, 39°10’ E; upto 2850 m high) which shows a varied lithology.
A large team has carried out research in that district over the past 23 years, including long stays in the areas. Numerous viewpoints and geosites are only accessible on foot; hence the authors prepared the book as a trekking guide, which will enhance sustainable tourism in the same time. This edited work summarises the study results in the international literature into a comprehensive book, which comprises 35 thematic chapters, detailed description of 573 km of trekking routes to access the landscape and the most scenic excursion points, as well as the necessary logistical information. A state-of-the-art trekking map is included as a digital annex.
https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030049546
Application of nutrients is an important way to increase crop productivity. In our study area, Tigray, development agents recommend fertilizer application to boost productivity and counteract nutrient depletion. We analyzed soil fertility from different perspectives, using responses and nutrient balances based on on-farm experimentation. Three perspectives, embedded in the People-Planet-Profit framework and different in temporal and spatial scale and ownership, were considered. Taking a farmer perspective we found no significant differences in response between recommended and current farmer practices. Taking an agronomist perspective phosphorus seemed to limit productivity. It however also became obvious that closing nutrient balances at field scale to achieve sustainability is difficult. Only by using considerable amounts of manure and at the cost of productivity this can be achieved. From a long term environmentalist perspective, the traditional agricultural system seems sustainable in combining mixed farming and relatively low yields. We conclude that depending on the perspective taken, different interventions will be appropriate. All perspectives however indicate that gradually strengthening the existing mixed farming system by using fertilizers, organic manure and legume fallows supports crop productivity while maintaining other aspects of sustainability like food security and profitability. In line with this, our analysis of different perspectives suggests that in our study area farmers will only consider transitions with low risk and this specifically should be addressed in proposing pathways of transition. In processes where stakeholders with different perspectives cooperate it is important to be aware and make use of the possibilities of comparable multi-perspective analyses. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Declining soil fertility is a major constraint on crop production in the semi-arid highlands of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. In order to design more appropriate research and development programmes geared to improving integrated nutrient management practices, researchers need to understand farmers’ knowledge and perception of soil fertility. This working paper presents the results of a participatory survey designed to characterise and analyse local knowledge about soil fertility and soil fertility management practices
Land use in a 208 ha representative catchment in the Tigray Highlands, Dogu'a Tembien district in Northern Ethiopia was studied in relation to soil geography. Typical soils are Vertisols, Vertic Cambisols, Cumulic Regosols, Calcaric Regosols and Phaeozems. Patterns of land use vary greatly within the catchment and results from χ2-tests showed strong associations (p < 0·001) between soil type and land use and crop production system. There is a strong association between cropland and colluvium high in basaltic content because the most fertile soils, such as Vertisols and Vertic Cambisols, have developed on this material. Preference is for autochthonous soils on in situ parent material, irrespective of the rock type, to be put under rangeland. Land use by smallholders in Dogu'a Tembien appears to be the result primarily of the interaction between environmental and social factors. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Lack of effective chilling during the dormant season is one of the major problems when apples are growing under a tropical climate. We evaluated the response of different apple cultivars (Golden Delicious, Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith and Jonagold) grown on M9 rootstock with different dormancy-management practices. The trials were carried out between 2004 and 2006 in a tropical mountain area (Tigray, Ethiopia), where chilling conditions are poor with the aim of improving and synchronizing the bud break and the blossoming period of these apple cultivars. Two-year-old well-feathered trees were planted in two experimental trial sites in it randomized complete block design. Trees were subjected to the following treatments in two sets of experiments: one defoliation per year only; two defoliations per year, one defoliation followed by 1% hydrogen cyanamide (Dormex) treatment; one defoliation followed by 2% Dormex treatment; one defoliation followed by 40% winter oil; one defoliation followed by 0.5% Dormex and 2% winter oil; and a control with no defoliation or dormancy breaking treatments. The result show positive effects of the dormancy breaking agents oil the productivity of the trees after defoliation, with comparable results for the effectiveness of both Dormex and winter oil. There were On statistically significant differences between the Dormex closes. The defoliation treatment alone Was not sufficient to break dormancy for the cultivars Golden Delicious, Granny Smith or Gala but showed promising results with dormancy breaking Jonagold. Yields increased as a result of better flowering time synchronization within a tree but even with the dormancy treatments the length of the flowering period was still spread over five weeks, where under it more temperate climate it lasted two to three weeks. The average fruit weight of Jonagold and Granny Smith can be considered as it good fruit quality while the fruit of other diploid cultivars like Golden, Gala and Fuji were rather small, which indicates chat fruit thinning by hand will be it necessity For these cultivars. Red colouration of the apples oil the cultivars Gala and Jonagold was excellent and meets the standards necessary for commercialization of these fruits. The sugar concentration of the fruits and the fruit firmness at harvest was high. The results of these first trials indicate that it is possible to develop new apple production in the mountain region of Tigray, Ethiopia.
Farmers’ knowledge of soil fertility and local management strategies in Tigray
- M Corbeels
- Abebe Shiferaw
- Mitiku Haile
Agricultural systems in Ethiopia
- E Westphal
- Jmc Stevels
Westphal E, Stevels JMC (1975) Agricultural systems in Ethiopia. Centre for Agricultural
Publishing and Documentation, Wageningen, The Netherlands.