Water is the way forward

8:55am Thursday 13th September 2012 in News

WITH regards to A Davidson’s letter of August 31. I agree with him — give a man a pound and you feed him for a day; give a man water and seed and you feed him for life.

The latter half of that adage may well be true in theory, so may I offer some practical advice on how it could be done.

Take Ethiopia, for instance, as appeals are made for that country every year. Charities could use your donations on building desalination plants on the coast, powered by wind turbines, then pump the water inland to suitable agricultural sites via reservoirs. You could then grow cash crops and produce for the domestic markets of the country.

If this strategy had been adopted in 1985 when Live Aid raised more than £40 million, would Ethiopia be nearly self-sufficient by now? I think so.

B Eccles Daubhill

Comments (3)

10:40am Thu 13 Sep 12

Reed Lover says...

The biggest problem is that Ethiopia has no coast and is in constant dispute with its neighbours. Any pipeline and the source, if a desalination plant location could even be agreed, would be a soft target should tensions escalate.

As ever, it is politics that is the problem in Africa.
The biggest problem is that Ethiopia has no coast and is in constant dispute with its neighbours. Any pipeline and the source, if a desalination plant location could even be agreed, would be a soft target should tensions escalate. As ever, it is politics that is the problem in Africa. Reed Lover

7:44pm Thu 13 Sep 12

underwater says...

The main problem in Africa is over population ,and until this problem is sorted out people will allways go hungry.Surely in this day and age some family planning advice could be given,people must wake up to the fact that they cannot keep being irresponsible .It is a problem not only in Africa, this country is also going the same way.A spell of family planning would go a long way to solving the worlds problems.
The main problem in Africa is over population ,and until this problem is sorted out people will allways go hungry.Surely in this day and age some family planning advice could be given,people must wake up to the fact that they cannot keep being irresponsible .It is a problem not only in Africa, this country is also going the same way.A spell of family planning would go a long way to solving the worlds problems. underwater

9:15pm Thu 13 Sep 12

dougie kay says...

unless of course you live in Ethiopia or Somalia, where the seeds will seized by the local war lords and sold as food what little is distributed will never be used as intended , but ground down and eaten. this happens on an almost annual basis.As long as the west try to feed them ,the more they expect it and resign them selves that it the answer to the solution
unless of course you live in Ethiopia or Somalia, where the seeds will seized by the local war lords and sold as food what little is distributed will never be used as intended , but ground down and eaten. this happens on an almost annual basis.As long as the west try to feed them ,the more they expect it and resign them selves that it the answer to the solution dougie kay

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