ethiopia: Pipe and a few pumps make farming possible in an arid community

The Rift Valley area of central Ethiopia is a place of chronic food shortage, especially in recent years as erratic rains have stunted crops, and diseases have killed off livestock. Years of deforestation have eroded the soil, and even the farmers near Ziway Lake struggle to find water for their families and crops. They lacked the equipment to move the water to their farms. But they knew that with some water pumps and pipes, and the technical expertise to maintain the equipment and grow their crops in drought conditions, they could overcome the dry climate.