If you’ve ever wondered how farmers are adapting to climate and economic challenges in rural Ethiopia, let me introduce you to Gebru and Dubela — two men who turned rough, neglected land into something thriving and profitable.
Both live in central Ethiopia. Both used to grow crops like maize and teff — the staples most farmers in the region depend on. One particularly rocky riverside plot on Gebru’s farm just wasn’t working. It was too dry, full of stones, and didn’t seem worth the effort. Most people would have left it alone.
Gebru didn’t. “I love to experiment,” he told us, and he meant it. With encouragement from the local agriculture team, part of the Food System Resilience Program (FSRP), he decided to give that land another shot. FSRP is a program supported by the World Bank and the Ethiopian government to help farmers adapt to shocks like climate change, rising costs, and poor soil. But what makes it work is that it focuses on real people making real decisions.
Gebru cleared the rocks, improved the soil, and planted his first papaya trees. Then he added bananas, coffee, avocado, lemon, and even sugarcane. That once “useless” piece of land? It’s now an agroforestry system that supports his whole family and more.
Today, he employs 11 permanent workers and 17 seasonal ones. He sells fruit locally, sends his children to a private school in town, and even built a new house in Welkite. Not bad for a farmer who started with rocky soil and a few seedlings.
And he’s not alone. A few kilometers away, Dubela and his wife, Amarch, were watching Gebru’s progress. They were maize farmers too. But when they saw how the new papaya varieties were performing — fast-growing, easy to manage, and profitable — they decided to take a chance.
They planted. And in just nine months, they were harvesting.
Now, their yard is full of fruit trees. They’ve planted bananas and coffee alongside the papaya. They save money by picking their own coffee and fruits, and they sell extra produce at a roadside stand that’s become a hit with travelers. Their home is greener. Their income is steadier. And they’re thinking about the future in a whole new way.
What I love about these stories is how simple they are. No big machinery. No complex technology. Just local farmers, supported by a smart, practical program, making the most of what they have — and turning it into something amazing.
It’s easy to talk about “resilience” as an abstract idea. But here, it’s real. Resilience looks like rocky ground becoming rich soil. It looks like papaya trees growing where no one expected them. It looks like farmers deciding to take control of their future instead of waiting for things to improve on their own.
If there’s one thing we can learn from Gebru and Dubela, it’s this: sometimes, the biggest changes start with the smallest shifts. A new variety. A patch of land someone believed in. A little support at the right time.
That’s what food system resilience is all about. Not just bouncing back but building forward.
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