[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6188\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EHarvesting water in Ethiopia\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESo-called water harvesting on small-scale farms over the past four years has helped annual crop yields rise from 500 to 5 000 kilogrammes per hectare, when combined with other soil management measures, according to Dr Kifle Woldemariam, coordinator of the Ethiopian study site for the WAHARA research project.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOn average, the Ethiopian smallholders involved in the project have around half a hectare of land that they use to raise crops and livestock to feed their families and make a living.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027With this much land, if they can get enough water and improve their soil through different management practices, they are able to support their families,\u0027 Dr Woldemariam said. \u2018Otherwise they could remain food insecure, as they are all small-scale farmers who are very poor and very sensitive to various rainfall and climate related challenges.\u0027\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe aim of the EU-supported WAHARA project is to develop innovative and appropriate water harvesting technologies that can be applied to different geographical regions in Africa. The project is running trials in four countries: Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Zambia and Ethiopia.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt the Ethiopian study site, which covers one water catchment area in the north of the country, the researchers identified three major challenges related to water and land use: rainfall variability, poor soil fertility and a shortage of land.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlthough northern Ethiopia\u0027s annual rainfall is quite similar to countries in northern Europe \u2013 500 to 800 millimetres per year \u2013 it all falls over just a few months and is unreliable.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027The rainfall doesn\u0027t come at the same time every year, it stops early or it comes late and this makes rainfall-based farming really challenging,\u0027 Dr Woldemariam said.\f\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe poor soil fertility is also linked to rainfall. In Ethiopia it is not unusual to have very high levels of rain over just a few days. This leads to flash floods, which strip the land of its topsoil, reducing its fertility.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo tackle the unreliable rainfall and poor soil fertility, researchers have been investigating the effectiveness of so-called check dams and soil improvement techniques, such as mulching with effective micro-organisms, which involves laying organic matter that has been treated with a yeast and bacteria solution on the ground.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECheck dams\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERather than stopping water completely, check dams are barriers designed to interrupt flow and reduce water velocity, which helps tackle erosion and flash flooding. They also allow farmers to divert and store water for irrigation and, by slowing it down, increase the infiltration of water into the surrounding land.\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u0026#039;It\u0026#039;s amazing, even in wells that were dry, new groundwater has started to come up.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EDr Kifle Woldemariam, the WAHARA research project \u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027It\u0027s amazing, even in wells that were dry, new groundwater has started to come up,\u0027 Dr Woldemariam said. \u0027The sedimentation has stopped running off almost completely in some areas and the floods have stopped in parts of the watershed.\u0027\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers have also been looking at the introduction of bench terraces on steep ground to create more usable land. The ultimate aim of the project is to produce designs for check dams and bench terraces that can be adapted and used across Ethiopia and east Africa.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027The idea is that we will come up with a design, with options and guidelines for different conditions, that NGOs (non-governmental organisations), communities and individuals can take and implement on their own land,\u0027 Dr Woldemariam explained. \u0027This is starting already. Individuals are trying to build the check dams and bench terraces on their own farmland, especially if they are near rivers.\u0027\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIf Ethiopia is able to manage its water resources well, then it may actually be able to increase its food production levels as the climate changes, according to Prof. Riccardo Valentini from the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change in Viterbo, Italy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe coordinated the EU-funded CLIMAFRICA project, which constructed a map of how climate change will affect the food security of different countries and regions in sub-Saharan Africa.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027One of the results of the project which is quite interesting is exactly that the climate effects are different in different parts of Africa,\u0027 he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027We found that west Africa and south Africa will be most affected by climate change, while, quite surprisingly, there will be some marginally positive effects on the east Africa horn.\u0027\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis is because rainfall amounts are expected to increase in this last region, potentially enabling an increase in crop yields.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedium range\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfrica as a whole is particularly vulnerable to climate change, both because of the physical impacts and because the ability to respond is limited. CLIMAFRICA researchers looked at the likely effects of climate change in different parts of Africa over a medium-term range to 2030.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe idea was to give governments, international institutions and citizens useful information to help decide where best to invest resources.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027Usually everybody is predicting climate scenarios at the end of the century,\u0027 said Prof. Valentini. \u0027The end of the century is too far for this type of thing. And at the same time the weather forecasts are too short to take appropriate measures.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027So the intermediate scale is very important for managing investments and to make more robust the African system to stop climate change.\u0027\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe CLIMAFRICA researchers estimate that Africa needs a total investment in irrigation systems of around EUR 1.95 billion to cope with the effects of climate change. \u0027This is not really a huge amount when you consider the African continent,\u0027 said Prof. Valentini.\u003Cdiv class=\u0022moreinfoblock\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch3\u003EExpo Milano\u003C\/h3\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EThe WAHARA and CLIMAFRICA projects form part of a presentation by the EU at the Expo Milano 2015 world fair.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EExpo Milano runs from 1 May to 31 October and focuses on feeding the planet sustainably.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor more about the EU pavilion at Expo Milano visit: \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/europa.eu\/expo2015\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/europa.eu\/expo2015\/\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-zsmtyzowjyzuz46fnwkxo1-uzuccenxy52yvmcftsme\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-zSmtYZOWjYzuZ46FNwkXo1_UzuccEnXy52YvMcfTsmE\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]