INTERNATIONAL
Virginia Tech Assists Ethiopians with Natural Resource Management
Conrad Heatwole, associate professor in biological systems engineering (right), serves as a mentor to Gizaw Desta, an agent of the Amhara State Agricultural Research Agency. Here, they inspect one of their erosion research sites.
Conrad Heatwole, associate professor in biological systems engineering, is helping Ethiopian researchers in a USAID-funded erosion-fighting project. As a part of this project, Heatwole works with an Ethiopian researcher to improve natural resource management and agricultural productivity.
Heatwole and his Ethiopian colleague, Gizaw Desta, an assistant researcher for the Amhara State Agricultural Research Agency, are developing procedures to reduce erosion while keeping as much of a field as possible in production. Based on this work, they are developing improved recommendations on erosion control measures. Desta is especially interested in finding effective ways to modify traditional tillage practices.
Food production from year to year in Ethiopia is so uncertain that it is an extremely food insecure country. Pressure to produce food for subsistence is complicated by social, political, and economic factors. These challenges are further compounded by high rates of erosion that result in a decline in the productive capacity of the land. Heatwole and Desta hope that their project will serve as a model for other erosion-prone areas in Ethiopia.