I'll be going to the Welayita Region where there's 3 rainy seasons: rainy seasons and 1 dry season. I'm learning from info from the Foreign Ag Service. Initially my info came from digging online. The info had Curt from FAS as a contact. So, I contacted Curt and asked him for more information. He's been helpful and sent me additional information to learn from. Wow, do I have a lot to learn. I thought I'd share the following from here because I found it intriguing:
Three Seasons: The central and most of the eastern part of the country have two rainy periods and one dry period. These seasons are known locally as the main Kiremt rains (June –September), small Belg rains, (February-May), and dry Bega season (October-January).
· Kirmet rainfall is very important because 90-95 percent of the food is produced during this main meher crop season. Drought during kiremt may lead to food insecurity because this is when most parts of the country receive 60-90 percent of their rainfall.
· The belg harvest accounts for only 5 to 10 percent of the total annual grain production of the country, but it may provide up to 50 percent of the yearly food supply in the some highland areas, such as Wollo and Shewa regions (all belg regions and the north-central belg region).
So with this info, I know that I'll be going during the main rainy season. Well, I already knew that from adoption stuff but I'm seeing it in scientific documentation. Anyway, since I'm going at the start of the main rain season, this might be a good time to plant crops. Some of my next steps include what crops to plant, what the temperature cycle and degree days are, and the length of the crop seasons.
Time to do more digging... and keeping my fingers crossed (okay, really I'm praying, not crossing my fingers) that I can get additional information I'd like to have before going to Ethiopia!
Three Seasons: The central and most of the eastern part of the country have two rainy periods and one dry period. These seasons are known locally as the main Kiremt rains (June –September), small Belg rains, (February-May), and dry Bega season (October-January).
· Kirmet rainfall is very important because 90-95 percent of the food is produced during this main meher crop season. Drought during kiremt may lead to food insecurity because this is when most parts of the country receive 60-90 percent of their rainfall.
· The belg harvest accounts for only 5 to 10 percent of the total annual grain production of the country, but it may provide up to 50 percent of the yearly food supply in the some highland areas, such as Wollo and Shewa regions (all belg regions and the north-central belg region).
So with this info, I know that I'll be going during the main rainy season. Well, I already knew that from adoption stuff but I'm seeing it in scientific documentation. Anyway, since I'm going at the start of the main rain season, this might be a good time to plant crops. Some of my next steps include what crops to plant, what the temperature cycle and degree days are, and the length of the crop seasons.
Time to do more digging... and keeping my fingers crossed (okay, really I'm praying, not crossing my fingers) that I can get additional information I'd like to have before going to Ethiopia!
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