Quinoa adventure creating jobs for women in Ethiopia
How young women in Ethiopia are sowing the seeds of a better life.
By Camilla Juul Bjørn
21 young people are sitting in a plain room in a brick building still under construction.
Just four months ago they were all unemployed, living in a small village with very limited opportunities for youth.
Now, they are local experts on quinoa and part of a community devoted to building a quinoa production and generating a stable income for their newly established women’s cooperative located in Berbere in the northern part of Ethiopia.
An organization empowering young women
Ethiopia is a country tormented by droughts. Since 2013, DanChurchAid and local partners have introduced the quinoa crop as a means of hunger prevention. Quinoa is known worldwide for its high-protein content and is often referred to as the next super grain.
In Berbere, women have embraced the quinoa. They have started cooperating and saving their money in a shared pot. Their aim is to set up a business buying the raw quinoa from the local farmers, processing it and creating a demand for the new product locally as well as nationally.
At just 21 years, Debisar Beganu has been elected chair of the group ”because she has a very good and holistic understanding of the project,” as her colleague puts it.
Debisar takes the floor to introduce the concept.
”We have a lot of work ahead of us. But we have started saving collectively, so we have enough money to buy the quinoa from the farmers as soon as the harvest is done”.
Each member has to contribute 2–5 birr or 0,07–0,18 dollars each week. But this hasn’t been a problem. They all value and prioritize their business and a kind of positive peer pressure has lead to more than 1800 birr being saved.
”While we are waiting for this year´s quinoa harvest, we have been meeting every Sunday to learn about business plans, marketing and how to accumulate our savings,” Debisar explains.
”But most importantly, we have changed the perception of quinoa in our village. My family and I have cooked several different dishes like porridge and injera using quinoa. And my parents actually like it and support my work.”
Introducing quinoa in a traditional culture
As in most of the Amhara region, the food culture in Berbere is based on the stable food injera, a spongy flatbread made by the grass called teff.
The bread is typically the main ingredient in the two or three daily meals. But the region has difficulty producing enough teff for their needs. Compared to teff, the quinoa plant is extremely weather-resistant and able to survive in heavy rain as well as long droughts. On top of that, each seed produces a handful of grain.
Like teff, quinoa is gluten-free. It has a very high level of fat, which makes it a great component when fighting and preventing hunger among toddlers and lactating women.
When testing injera made with a mix of teff and ouinoa flour, a taste panel endorsed the taste, aroma and structure of injera made with up to 30 % quinoa.
This makes quinoa an ideal crop to introduce in Ethiopia due to both drought-resistance as well as its application into the local kitchen.
Awoke is inspired by his neighbour
Two kilometres outside the dusty village, Awoke Debey, a farmer aged 47, is heading to his new quinoa field.
For the first time, part of his teff field has been transformed into a quinoa plot. In a designated area, he has sown the 200 grams of quinoa seeds that he received from the Mekane Yesus organisation, a DanChurchAid partner.
The quinoa is growing sporadically on the plot. Awoke explains with regret that he made a mistake when he picked this particular plot for the quinoa seeds.
“This is my least fertile field, and on top of that I was also running late when sowing the seeds. Next year I am going to choose a fertile ground because now I realize that the quinoa is a very good crop.”
Awoke and his wife have six children. The family didn’t attend the local quinoa demonstration but their neighbours did. They learned about farming and maintaining the quinoa fields as well as how to cook the new ingredient. Awoke stresses his dedication to improve in the future and be able to produce enough quinoa for his family.
“My neighbour produced a harvest of 12 kg from the same 200 grams of quinoa seeds. So I should be able to get a better outcome next year”.
Awoke is planning to use the quinoa mainly for his own household. But with a successful harvest he should be able to sell some to the quinoa cooperative in Berbere.
Quinoa is served
Back in the village, a group of women who previously attended a quinoa cooking demonstration have started preparing the quinoa with tomatoes, onions, a couple of potatoes and a handful of green chillies.
During the first attempts at introducing quinoa in Ethiopia, DanChurchAid found it difficult to convince the local farmers to eat their new crop. The women didn’t know how to process and cook the strange ingredient.
But after the introduction of cooking classes, the quinoa is now a valued ingredient and a staple part of the quinoa farmers’ diet.
The women are getting hungry. Today is an Orthodox fasting day and the adults are fasting until 12 o´clock. At 12.30 p.m., the food is ready to be served. Women, children and youth gather in small groups to share the few plates with the quinoa stew.
The assemblage starts eating in peace and looks content with the result.
Debisar smiles. “Look, everybody really likes it!”
