Farming Systems, Resource Management and Household Coping Strategies in Nothern Ethiopia : Preliminary report of a Social and Agro-Ecological Baseline Study in Central Tigray

Fra Noragric. Prepared by the Relief Society of Tigray (REST) in collaboration with NORAGRIC at the Agricultural University of Norway. Gebremedhn Gebru (Relief Society of Tigray), Dr. Arne Olav Øyhus (NORAGRIC at the Agricultural University of Norway), Euphrates Zeray (REST's Fund Raising Unit), Abeba Tesfa Lidet, Tesfaye Gebre Wold (The Relief and Rehabilitation Commission), Gebre Egziabher Kiros (Addis Ababa University), and Barbara Hendrie (Department of Anthropology, University College London). Ethiopia.Tigray, as other parts of northern Ethiopia, belongs to that zone of the African drylands which is often called the Sudano-Sahelian region, and, as such, faces the same problems as the whole region since dryland environments denote distinctive challenges to development. The drylands are driven by sparse, highly uneven distribution of seasonal rainfall, and by the erratic occurrence of drought. Though some soils are rich, most are poor and thin. Attacks of pests are unpredictable and sometimes devastating (UNSO 1992: 6).