(06 September 2011, guardian.co.uk)--Vineyards will help to add value to crops in the Rift Valley. Making wine in Ethiopia, when the whole world has seen pictures of famine there, may seem absurd, if not indecent.
But that would be to forget that this country of 88 million people is twice the size of France and that malnutrition is mainly in the far south, in the region bordering Kenya and Somalia.
Ethiopia is not just made up of arid land, but has a diversified environment of high plateaux, lush valleys, and dozens of lakes and volcanoes.
It has six different climatic zones. Nor is winemaking in Ethiopia a new idea. The Italian forces who occupied part of the country from 1936 to 1941 planted vines near the capital, Addis Ababa, as well as in the south-east, but only for their own consumption.
This, however, is an entirely different project because it should be a money-earner for the country. Launched in 2007 by the Ethiopian government and the French group Castel (already active in beer and breweries), it is an attempt to diversify agriculture and promote the country's products.
"If our wine can contribute to improving this country's image, we'll have succeeded," said Robel Seido, head of sales at Castel. "We want to export nearly half of our production, especially to the US, which has a large Ethiopian community." The remainder is earmarked for the domestic market, but will be of a far higher quality than the few existing table wines.
It took seven months of research to select the area for the new vineyards. Dire Dawa, in the east of the country, was the first choice, but it was relatively inaccessible and considered too close to war-torn Somalia. In the end a site near the town of Ziway, 170km to the south of Addis Ababa, was chosen in 2008 and 750,000 vines were planted, employing a labour force of 750, mostly local people. FULL ARTICLE AT guardian.co.uk »
Ethiopia is not just made up of arid land, but has a diversified environment of high plateaux, lush valleys, and dozens of lakes and volcanoes.
It has six different climatic zones. Nor is winemaking in Ethiopia a new idea. The Italian forces who occupied part of the country from 1936 to 1941 planted vines near the capital, Addis Ababa, as well as in the south-east, but only for their own consumption.
This, however, is an entirely different project because it should be a money-earner for the country. Launched in 2007 by the Ethiopian government and the French group Castel (already active in beer and breweries), it is an attempt to diversify agriculture and promote the country's products.
"If our wine can contribute to improving this country's image, we'll have succeeded," said Robel Seido, head of sales at Castel. "We want to export nearly half of our production, especially to the US, which has a large Ethiopian community." The remainder is earmarked for the domestic market, but will be of a far higher quality than the few existing table wines.
It took seven months of research to select the area for the new vineyards. Dire Dawa, in the east of the country, was the first choice, but it was relatively inaccessible and considered too close to war-torn Somalia. In the end a site near the town of Ziway, 170km to the south of Addis Ababa, was chosen in 2008 and 750,000 vines were planted, employing a labour force of 750, mostly local people. FULL ARTICLE AT guardian.co.uk »
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