Irrigation is life
The Plan: There is a large aquifer directly beneath the village of Worja. That aquifer has a water refresh rate that is more than adequate to irrigate the cropland in Worja - all we need to do is drill a 200-meter well and pump system. The site survey, drilling and pump will cost roughly $54,000 USD and will provide irrigation for between 150-180 acres of farmland. This irrigation will remove the dependence on rainfall, allowing the farmers to cultivate multiple crops per year thereby preventing chronic starvation and malnutrition for the entire village. That’s right - $54,000 USD will mean that no one in Worja will ever have to starve again.
Total Need – $54,000 USD
Because the community of Worja is entirely dependent on the rains to grow not only enough food to make it through the dry, summer season, but also to make it through the planting season until the next harvest, the outlook is bleak. While FCC’s field team was in the ground in Worja from July 2-July 8th, two people from Worja died due to starvation and malnutrition. Two people. And it leads one to think:
Farmers shouldn’t starve to death.
CAPTION: “Knee high by the Fourth of July.” It’s a phrase used by farmers in the American Midwest to determine if there’s been enough rain that season. The same is true in Ethiopia, whose seasons are opposite North America and whose rainy, crop-growing season starts in March, and is half-way over in July. But there have been no rains this year. The annual rainfall is down so much, it’s been formally declared a drought by climatologists. The landscape should be lush and green and covered with vegetation, but instead, desolate, hard packed dirt is all you see.
The PROBLEM: No RAIN
The SOLUTION: IRRIGATION
CAPTION: Water flows from a pipe into a simple irrigation aqueduct in a non-profit funded project near Worja. This aqueduct provides crop irrigation for hundreds and hundreds of acres of cropland. This relatively inexpensive solution is easily replicate in Worja - but it takes up-front capital.
OUR PLAN: DIG A BORE-HOLE WELL TO IRRIGATE 150-ACRES OF CROPLAND
