‘Potato farmers’ do not exist….. A good farmer diversifies and grows at least 3-4 different crops – including potatoes – in a crop rotation to prevent the build-up of crop-specific diseases and to use the nitrogen-fixing qualities of Leguminoseous crops.

In area’s where food crop production is not meeting yet the need of the population, growing fodder crops for animal production is not done. In Ethiopia most cows and sheep are free-grazing, often on the large highland planes with marginal soils where proper food crop production is hard. At the midlands these cattle browse the field and road borders and the harvested fields in the off-seasons, making use of all crop stubbles and weeds.

We have been designing proper crop rotations since we got our own land, using early-maturing rotational crops that both enrich the soil and profits the farmers. Especially the early peas and beans will do, besides early cereals. To meet the farmers’ demand for fodders, we start to grow alleys of fodder trees, from which every three months a good harvest of protein-rich fodder can be harvested. At the same time these surrounding hedges provide a conducive micro-climate for the food crops.