Melesse Temesgen

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Melesse Temesgen is an Ethiopian agricultural engineer, hydrologist [1] [2] and businessman. He was born on 7 July 1964 in Gojjam, Ethiopia. [3] He is the CEO of Aybar Engineering PLC. [4]

Contents

Education

In 1980 Temesgen finished secondary school. He then studied Agricultural Engineering at Alemaya College of Agriculture, Addis Ababa University. In July 1984 he graduated with distinction. In the same year he joined the Institute of Agricultural Research. [3] In 1987 he received an MSc in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. [5]

Career

After his studies Temesgen returned to Ethiopia. He worked as researcher for 15 years. From 1997 until 2001 he also coordinated the National Agricultural Mechanization Research Program. [3] From 2002 until 2006 Temesgen worked on his PhD at UNESCO-IHE [6] and at the department of Water Resources of the TU Delft, Netherlands. [3] After the completion of his PhD, he taught at Addis Ababa Institute of Technology [2] and was assistant professor at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Addis Ababa University. [7] Temesgen then founded his own company Aybar Engineering in Addis Ababa. [8] [9]

Awards

In 2002 Temesgen received the National Award for Outstanding Achievement in Science and Technology from the National Science and Technology Council for development of Animal drawn mold board plough together with the then Melkassa Agricultural Implements Research and Improvement Center (AIRIC) colleagues . [5]

In 2014 he won the Special Prize for Social Impact by the African Innovation Foundation. [6]

In 2019 he won a $25,000 award for social impact at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in The Hague. [10]

Publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soil erosion</span> Displacement of soil by water, wind, and lifeforms

Soil erosion is the denudation or wearing away of the upper layer of soil. It is a form of soil degradation. This natural process is caused by the dynamic activity of erosive agents, that is, water, ice (glaciers), snow, air (wind), plants, and animals. In accordance with these agents, erosion is sometimes divided into water erosion, glacial erosion, snow erosion, wind (aeolian) erosion, zoogenic erosion and anthropogenic erosion such as tillage erosion. Soil erosion may be a slow process that continues relatively unnoticed, or it may occur at an alarming rate causing a serious loss of topsoil. The loss of soil from farmland may be reflected in reduced crop production potential, lower surface water quality and damaged drainage networks. Soil erosion could also cause sinkholes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable agriculture</span> Farming approach that balances environmental, economic and social factors in the long term

Sustainable agriculture is farming in sustainable ways meeting society's present food and textile needs, without compromising the ability for current or future generations to meet their needs. It can be based on an understanding of ecosystem services. There are many methods to increase the sustainability of agriculture. When developing agriculture within sustainable food systems, it is important to develop flexible business process and farming practices. Agriculture has an enormous environmental footprint, playing a significant role in causing climate change, water scarcity, water pollution, land degradation, deforestation and other processes; it is simultaneously causing environmental changes and being impacted by these changes. Sustainable agriculture consists of environment friendly methods of farming that allow the production of crops or livestock without damage to human or natural systems. It involves preventing adverse effects to soil, water, biodiversity, surrounding or downstream resources—as well as to those working or living on the farm or in neighboring areas. Elements of sustainable agriculture can include permaculture, agroforestry, mixed farming, multiple cropping, and crop rotation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subsistence agriculture</span> Farming to meet basic needs

Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families on smallholdings. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements. Planting decisions occur principally with an eye toward what the family will need during the coming year, and only secondarily toward market prices. Tony Waters, a professor of sociology, defines "subsistence peasants" as "people who grow what they eat, build their own houses, and live without regularly making purchases in the marketplace".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dryland farming</span> Non-irrigated farming in areas with little rainfall during the growing season.

Dryland farming and dry farming encompass specific agricultural techniques for the non-irrigated cultivation of crops. Dryland farming is associated with drylands, areas characterized by a cool wet season followed by a warm dry season. They are also associated with arid conditions, areas prone to drought and those having scarce water resources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No-till farming</span> Agricultural method

No-till farming is an agricultural technique for growing crops or pasture without disturbing the soil through tillage. No-till farming decreases the amount of soil erosion tillage causes in certain soils, especially in sandy and dry soils on sloping terrain. Other possible benefits include an increase in the amount of water that infiltrates into the soil, soil retention of organic matter, and nutrient cycling. These methods may increase the amount and variety of life in and on the soil. While conventional no-tillage systems use herbicides to control weeds, organic systems use a combination of strategies, such as planting cover crops as mulch to suppress weeds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Contour plowing</span> Farming practice

Contour bunding or contour farming or contour ploughing is the farming practice of plowing and/or planting across a slope following its elevation contour lines. These contour lines create a water break which reduces the formation of rills and gullies during times of heavy precipitation, allowing more time for the water to settle into the soil. In contour plowing, the ruts made by the plow run perpendicular rather than parallel to the slopes, generally furrows that curve around the land and are level. This method is also known for preventing tillage erosion. Tillage erosion is the soil movement and erosion by tilling a given plot of land. A similar practice is contour bunding where stones are placed around the contours of slopes. Contour ploughing has been proved to reduce fertilizer loss, power and time consumption, and wear on machines, as well as to increase crop yields and reduces soil erosion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smallholding</span> Small farm, often for a single family

A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technology, involvement of family in labor and economic impact. Smallholdings are usually farms supporting a single family with a mixture of cash crops and subsistence farming. As a country becomes more affluent, smallholdings may not be self-sufficient, but may be valued for the rural lifestyle. As the sustainable food and local food movements grow in affluent countries, some of these smallholdings are gaining increased economic viability. There are an estimated 500 million smallholder farms in developing countries of the world alone, supporting almost two billion people.

The Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP) funds participatory, collaborative research on agroecological intensification (AEI). Funded projects typically link international, national, and local organizations with communities of smallholder farmers, researchers, development professionals, and other parties. Projects work together as part of a Community of Practice to generate technical and social innovations to improve nutrition, livelihoods, and productivity for farming communities in Africa and South America. Large-scale impact is realized when new ideas, technologies, or processes are adapted, when insights from research catalyze change in policy and practice, and when innovation inspires further success. The program is under the direction of Rebecca J. Nelson of Cornell University and Jane Maland Cady of the McKnight Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strip-till</span> Soil conservation technique

Strip-till is a conservation system that uses a minimum tillage. It combines the soil drying and warming benefits of conventional tillage with the soil-protecting advantages of no-till by disturbing only the portion of the soil that is to contain the seed row. This type of tillage is performed with special equipment and can require the farmer to make multiple trips, depending on the strip-till implement used, and field conditions. Each row that has been strip-tilled is usually about eight to ten inches wide.

AGRA,formerly known as the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa is an African-led African-based organization that seeks to catalyse Agriculture Transformation in Africa. AGRA is focused on putting smallholder farmers at the centre of the continent's growing economy by transforming agriculture from a solitary struggle to survive into farming as a business that thrives. As the sector that employs the majority of Africa's people, nearly all of them small-scale farmers, AGRA recognizes that developing smallholder agriculture into a productive, efficient, and sustainable system is essential to ensuring food security, lifting millions out of poverty, and driving equitable growth across the continent.

Rainfed agriculture is a type of farming that relies on rainfall for water. It provides much of the food consumed by poor communities in developing countries. E.g., rainfed agriculture accounts for more than 95% of farmed land in sub-Saharan Africa, 90% in Latin America, 75% in the Near East and North Africa, 65% in East Asia, and 60% in South Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regenerative agriculture</span> Conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming systems

Regenerative agriculture is a conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming systems. It focuses on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, improving the water cycle, enhancing ecosystem services, supporting biosequestration, increasing resilience to climate change, and strengthening the health and vitality of farm soil.

Climate change in Mexico is expected to have widespread impacts: with significant decreases in precipitation and increases in temperatures. This will put pressure on the economy, people and the biodiversity of many parts of the country, which have largely arid or hot climates. Already climate change has impacted agriculture, biodiversity, farmer livelihoods, and migration, as well as water, health, air pollution, traffic disruption from floods, and housing vulnerability to landslides.

Lindiwe Sibanda Majele (born 1963) is a Zimbabwean professor, scientist, policy advocate and influencer on food systems. She currently serves as director and chair of the ARUA Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Food Systems (ARUA-SFS) at the University of Pretoria in Pretoria, South Africa as well as founder and managing director of Linds Agricultural Services Pvt Ltd. in Harare, Zimbabwe. She is currently a board member of Nestlé where she is also a member of the Sustainability Committee.

Sudan is a country that is half desert and much of the population suffers from a shortage of clean drinking water as well as a reliable source of water for agriculture. With the Nile river in the east of the country, parts of Sudan have substantial water resources, but those in the west have to rely on wadis, seasonal wells which often dry up. These imbalances in water availability are a source of hardship, as well as a source of conflict. While storage facilities are limited, many local communities have constructed makeshift dams and reservoirs, weirs, which help in stabilizing farming communities. Farmers also utilize hafirs to store rain water which falls in the rainy season, but groundwater remains a vital source of water for over 80% of Sudanese people. For decades, political instability has led to terrible conditions and thwarted many projects and relief efforts, but aid is making its way through. Several water infrastructure projects have been enacted in recent years, with both domestic and international sources of funding. Funding from the UN has provided 9,550 local farmers with better access to water and fertile soils. A project which also plans to replant forest cover in the wadi to reverse desertification.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">May Qoqah</span> River in the Tembien highlands of Ethiopia

The May Qoqah is a river of the Nile basin. Rising on the Ts’ats’en plateau of Dogu’a Tembien in northern Ethiopia, it flows northward to empty finally in the Giba and Tekezé River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arwadito</span> River in the Tembien highlands of Ethiopia

The Arwadito is a torrent of the Nile basin. Rising on the Ts’ats’en plateau of Dogu’a Tembien in northern Ethiopia, it flows northward to empty finally in the Giba and Tekezé River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adawro River</span> River in the Tembien highlands of Ethiopia

The Adawro is a torrent of the Nile basin. Rising on the Ts’ats’en plateau of Dogu’a Tembien in northern Ethiopia, it flows northward to empty finally in the Giba and Tekezé River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">May Sho'ate</span> River in the Tembien highlands of Ethiopia

The May Sho’ate is a river of the Nile basin. Rising in the mountains of Dogu’a Tembien in northern Ethiopia, it flows southward to empty finally in Giba and Tekezé River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tillage erosion</span> Form of soil erosion

Tillage erosion is a form of soil erosion occurring in cultivated fields due to the movement of soil by tillage. There is growing evidence that tillage erosion is a major soil erosion process in agricultural lands, surpassing water and wind erosion in many fields all around the world, especially on sloping and hilly lands A signature spatial pattern of soil erosion shown in many water erosion handbooks and pamphlets, the eroded hilltops, is actually caused by tillage erosion as water erosion mainly causes soil losses in the midslope and lowerslope segments of a slope, not the hilltops. Tillage erosion results in soil degradation, which can lead to significant reduction in crop yield and, therefore, economic losses for the farm.

References

  1. ↑ "FABA (For Africa By Africans): Aybar Broad Bed & Furrows Maker (BBM) | Africa Strictly Business". www.africastrictlybusiness.com. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  2. 1 2 "Melesse Temesgen". www.eas-et.org. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Temesgen, Melesse (January 2007). "Conservation tillage systems and water productivity implications for smallholder farmers in semi-arid Ethiopia (PDF Download Available)". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  4. ↑ "Berlin Africa Economic Forum "Innovation"" (PDF).
  5. 1 2 "Ethiopian Award Winner" (PDF).
  6. 1 2 "Alumnus wins the special prize for innovation with the highest social impact | IHE Delft Institute for Water Education". www.un-ihe.org. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  7. ↑ "Ethiopian plow wins $25.000". Farming Africa. 2014-05-26. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  8. ↑ Sida Sverige (2015-11-17), Innovating for change: Aybar BBM Broad Bed Maker , retrieved 2017-12-05
  9. ↑ "Aybar | Engineering". www.aybareng.com. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  10. ↑ "In a Land Where Tractors Don't Work, Ethiopian Engineer has a Low-Tech Solution". Securing Water for Food. 2019-09-19. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  11. ↑ Leye, Melesse Temesgen (2007-08-20). Conservation Tillage Systems and Water Productivity - Implications for Smallholder Farmers in Semi-Arid Ethiopia: PhD, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, The Netherlands. S.l.: CRC Press. ISBN   9780415439466.
  12. ↑ "Effect of Winged Subsoiler and Traditional Tillage Integrated with Fanya Juu on Selected Soil Physico-Chemical and Soil Water Properties in the Northwestern Highlands of Ethiopia" (PDF).
  13. ↑ Biazin, Birhanu; Sterk, Geert; Temesgen, Melesse; Abdulkedir, Abdu; Stroosnijder, Leo (2012-01-01). "Rainwater harvesting and management in rainfed agricultural systems in sub-Saharan Africa – A review". Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C. Recent Advances in Water Resources Management. 47–48 (Supplement C): 139–151. Bibcode:2012PCE....47..139B. doi:10.1016/j.pce.2011.08.015.
  14. ↑ Temesgen, M.; Rockstrom, J.; Savenije, H. H. G.; Hoogmoed, W. B. (2007-07-11). "Assessment of strip tillage systems for maize production in semi-arid Ethiopia: effects on grain yield and water balance" (PDF). Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss. 2007 (4): 2229–2271. Bibcode:2007HESSD...4.2229T. doi: 10.5194/hessd-4-2229-2007 . ISSN   1812-2116.
  15. 1 2 "Determinants of Tillage Frequency Among Smallholder Farmers in Two Semi-Arid Areas in Ethiopia". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  16. ↑ "Conservation tillage for improved and sustainable crop production under Nitosols and Vertisols of the Lake Tana Basin". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  17. ↑ "Effects of Conservation Tillage Integrated with 'Fanya Juus' Structure on Soil Loss in Northern Ethiopia (PDF Download Available)". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  18. ↑ "The role of water harvesting to achieve sustainable agricultural intensification and resilience against water related shocks in sub-Saharan Africa". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  19. ↑ "Participatory Planning of Appropriate Rainwater Harvesting and Management Techniques in the Central Rift Valley Dry Lands of Ethiopia (PDF Download Available)". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  20. ↑ Temesgen, Melesse (January 1999). "Animal-drawn implements for improved cultivation in Ethiopia: participatory development and testing (PDF Download Available)". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  21. ↑ Tekleab, S.; Uhlenbrook, S.; Mohamed, Y.; Savenije, H. H. G.; Temesgen, M.; Wenninger, J. (2011). "Water Balance Modeling of Upper Blue Nile Catchments Using a Top-Down Approach (PDF Download Available)". Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. 15 (7): 2179–2193. doi: 10.5194/hess-15-2179-2011 . Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  22. ↑ "Impacts of conservation tillage on the hydrological and agronomic performance of fanya juus in the upper Blue Nile (Abbay) river basin (PDF Download Available)". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  23. ↑ "ON-FARM EVALUATION OF SOIL MOISTURE CONSERVATION TECHNIQUES USING IMPROVED GERMPLASM". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  24. ↑ "Conservation Farming among Small-Holder Farmers in E. Africa: Adapting and Adopting Innovative Land Management Options". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  25. ↑ "On-farm evaluation of an animal-drawn implement developed in Ethiopia for row placement of wheat seed and basal fertiliser". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  26. ↑ "Conservation Farming strategies in East and Southern Africa: Yields and rain water productivity from on-farm action research". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  27. ↑ "Conservation tillage implements and systems for smallholder farmers in semi-arid Ethiopia". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  28. ↑ "The effect of long-term Maresha ploughing on soil physical properties in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  29. ↑ "Water balance modeling of Upper Blue Nile catchments using a top-down approach (PDF Download Available)". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  30. ↑ "Conservation agriculture in dryland agro-ecosystems of Ethiopia (PDF Download Available)". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  31. ↑ "Water-smart agriculture in East Africa (PDF Download Available)". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  32. ↑ "Rainwater harvesting and management in rainfed agricultural systems in sub-Saharan Africa – A review". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  33. ↑ Temesgen, M.; Uhlenbrook, S.; Simane, B.; Van Der Zaag, P.; Mohamed, Y.; Wenninger, J.; Savenije, H. H. G. (2012). "Impacts of conservation tillage on the hydrological and agronomic performance of Fanya juus in the upper Blue Nile (Abbay) river basin (PDF Download Available)". Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. 16 (12): 4725–4735. doi: 10.5194/hess-16-4725-2012 . Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  34. ↑ "Assessment of strip tillage systems for maize production in semi-arid Ethiopia: Effects on grain yield, water balance and water productivity". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  35. ↑ "DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF TILLAGE IMPLEMENTS FOR MAIZE PRODUCTION IN THE DRYLAND AREAS OF ETHIOPIA (PDF Download Available)". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  36. ↑ "Developement[sic] and Introduction of Conservation Agriculture at the proposed Lake Tana Biosphere Reserve" (PDF).
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