HOLLOW HEAPS


HOLLOW HEAPS

An abandoned billboard around the Gotera area seamlessly fuses into a food silo next to it, a relic of the communist era in Ethiopia. While food silos are a thing of the past set aside as primitive tools to battle shortages, food insecurity persists in Ethiopia, with 25 million people living with severe food insecurity. An onslaught of war, drought, fertiliser shortages and locust invasions have colluded to push food prices past the reach of the majority in the last few years. The twofold spike in the price of the staple grain of Ethiopian cuisine, Teff, over the past two years is indicative of a pervasive malaise shaking at the pillars of the food supply chain.

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Radar

US Renews National Emergency, Sanctions on Ethiopia

The United States has extended the national emergency and sanctions on Ethiopia for another year under the African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA). Signed by President Donald J. Trump, the measure was first declared on September 17, 2021, through an executive order citing the conflict in northern region of the country as an "unusual and extraordinary" threat to U.S. national security and foreign policy. The extension, effective until September 17, 2026, keeps in place restrictions targeti...


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Rockefeller Pitches Clean Cooking to Curb School Meal Emissions

A recent study has revealed the staggering environmental toll of school feeding programs. A single school serving 400 students can burn through the equivalent of 56 hectares of forest each year to fuel cooking. The Rockefeller Foundation flagged the health risks too, with most cooks, predominantly women, breathing smoke levels ten times higher than the World Health Organisation's safe limit. "If every school meal transitioned to clean cooking with electricity and solar, the emissions saved wo...


Radar

Sun-Powered Grid Brings Light to Qunbi District

A new 600KW solar mini-grid in East Hararge'sQunbi district has connected 2,200 households to electricity, marking a milestone in the recent rural electrification push. Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) laid seven kilometres of medium-voltage and 10 kilometres of low-voltage lines, installing four transformers to reach communities long cut off from power. Customers cover only meter and installation costs before accessing the service. The project is part of the national strategy to expand energ...