OROMIA — Here's the vision: Ethiopia is on its way to becoming one of the world's major producers of spaghetti and other types of pasta, helping the country pull itself out of long entrenched hunger and poverty. 

Rescuing a country with pasta? Only the Italians could come up with such an idea! Indeed, the "Agricultural Chains in Oromia” project is the brainchild of Tiberio Chiari, technical director for the Italian Foreign Ministry's agriculture development arm (IAO). The goal is to turn locally and often individually grown durum wheat into a vast source for the final production of everything from bucatini to ziti.

"In order to create the supply chain, we must take care of every detail, connecting producers to traders and farmers to businessmen," Chiari says.

The Ali Valley is situated in Oromia, one of Ethiopia's largest regions and home to some 27 million people. Here, the only sound is often the golden sea of wheat swaying under the blue sky of the Bale plateau, one of the highest in Africa. Gamine Amin, 30, sows and harvests everything by hand in a region where industrial agriculture is virtually non-existant.

Amin's plot of land is no more than 2.5 acres, which is true for some 95% of Ethiopian agriculture today. And yet, the soil in this area is perfect for grain, with lots of nutrients and plenty of water. Staring at this blessed valley, which is more reminiscent of Tuscany than most parts of Africa, it's difficult to believe that Ethiopia has suffered such terrible famines.

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is already a key supplier of coffee beans, sugarcane and cotton. Nevertheless, its food security is based largely on the supply of two staple products: a simple cereal used to produce the injera, (standard soft bread), and grain mostly from soft wheat.

Coffee beans in Ethiopia — Photo: Cooperazione Italiana Etiopia Facebook page

When supply of one of these two strategic reserves drops, hunger is usually not far behind. In recent times, wheat production has most often been put at risk. "The ear of wheat suffers from an epidemic of rust, a fungal disease that has affected most of the crops," explains Genene Gezu, local coordinator of the Italian project.

Chiari is fully aware of the gravity of the situation. "Monocultures are easily exposed to diseases because of the lack of diversity in their genetic makeup. If a plant is affected by rust, all will be potentially exposed."

Colonial roots

This is where the success of the project “Agricultural Chains in Oromia" begins. Selected durum wheat, with a more varied genetic makeup than the tender one, helps to ensure the resilience of crops. This process minimizes the risk of contagion.