Irish taxpayers' money has directly contributed to creating an extraordinary Ethiopian version of the biblical Promised Land of milk and honeyIreland Aid is making an impact in Ethiopia by tackling some of the underlying problems in a country threatened once again by famine, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor
It is nearly 20 years since the BBC's Michael Buerk shocked us all with a harrowing filmed report from Ethiopia that depicted human suffering on an epic scale, with thousands of people on the verge of death from starvation, including painfully emaciated children.
With the folk memory of our own Great Famine still fresh in our minds, Irish people responded - none more so than Bob Geldof, who set up Band Aid and produced the best-selling Christmas single of 1984 to raise money for Ethiopia, following it up with the Live Aid extravaganza
With millions of pounds raised, the famine was soon "sorted". Ethiopia then slipped out of the media spotlight and back into the proverbial "heart of darkness". Other than a debilitating war with Eritrea in the late 1990s, we heard no more about the country that once had an emperor.
Now, with the world distracted by the US threat of war against Iraq, Ethiopia is facing a new famine. The lives of more than 11 million people - 17 per cent of the population - are threatened unless the international community redoubles its efforts to supply more food.
How could this be happening? Persistent drought is the short answer. In several rural areas, it simply hasn't rained enough in recent years to facilitate the planting of crops. Like many other countries, even in Europe, Ethiopia has been hit by the effects of global climate change.
Unlike Europeans, most Ethiopians depend on subsistence farming. The population is still largely rural, with millions living in relatively inaccessible places.
Indeed, it is estimated that three-quarters of those in rural areas would need to walk six hours to get to the nearest road.
Getting food to remote villages represents a huge logistical challenge. No less than 1.4 million tonnes of cereals are needed over the next six months and more again if the rainy seasons - one short and the other long - fail yet again to bring water to the parched, sun-scorched earth.
US Aid has just pledged to provide 200,000 tonnes of cereals while Canada is subscribing $40 million. Even India has pledged 100,000 tonnes of wheat, though the cost of transporting it through the Red Sea port state of Djibouti has been estimated at $17 million
Ireland has not been found wanting. On his recent four-day visit to Ethiopia, the Minister of State for Overseas Development, Mr Tom Kitt, announced that the Government was contributing a further €1.25 million "immediately" for food aid and other essential needs - on top of the €2.4 million it had already provided for emergency relief
Ethiopia is one of six priority countries under Ireland Aid's bilateral programme. The Irish embassy in Addis Ababa, headed by the energetic and committed chargé d'affaires, Ms Pauline Conway, who has spent 14 years in Africa, administers an annual budget of €30 million.
Much of this taxpayers' money goes into long-term development projects. Indeed, it has directly contributed to creating an extraordinary Ethiopian version of the biblical Promised Land of milk and honey not far from the area ravaged by famine in the mid-1980s.
Between craggy hills of red sandstone, peasant farmers on the flat floor of Gegera valley in the country's northern Tigray province were confidently ploughing their fields while women washed clothes and sheets in a meandering river, on the day Mr Kitt dropped in.
The valley now has a green carpet due to the implementation of an integrated watershed management project which has transformed the lives of some 500 families. As a result, none of them risks starving to death - whatever happens in the rest of Ethiopia.
Gegera had been totally degraded by water run-off and soil erosion before the project was inaugurated in 1998. Since then, agricultural production has increased by 40 per cent because of the concerted measures taken to conserve water in the area.
These include terracing the higher ground, planting trees and shrubs to bind the soil and "half-damming" the river. Two years ago, at the height of the war with Eritrea, local people successfully appealed to Ethiopian soldiers to stop felling trees for firewood.
The farmers, whose average holding is just an acre apiece, now have fodder for their cattle instead of having to walk up to 14 km to get it. Children who had to look after the animals can now go to school, often from new stone-built houses with corrugated roofs.
Bee-keeping in Gegera has been revolutionised through the introduction of modern beehives which produce 15 times as much honey. The fact that there is more vegetation in the valley also means that the bees can collect more pollen.
Senior Ireland Aid officials credit Dr Nick Chisholm, a food scientist at UCC, for the initiative which has changed the valley's microclimate. While working in the Irish embassy there, he brought some of the local farmers to Gujarat in India to see a similar project there.
Now, following the success of the Gegera watershed management project, its lessons are already being applied in 11 other areas in Tigray with 44 more to follow. "There is enough belief in it now," said Mr Frank Sheridan, head of Ireland Aid's bilateral programme.
Gegera's transformation is probably Ireland Aid's most exciting achievement anywhere. Tigray's president, Mr Tsegaye Berehe, told Mr Kitt that its work in his province "stands out [from that done by other agencies\] because its programmes are really making a difference".
Yet the cost to Irish taxpayers of the Gegera project was a snip, at just €204,545. This should be borne in mind by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, in case he is tempted to trim our overseas development budget. Better still, he should go out there and see it for himself.
Meanwhile, Mr Kitt is surely right in highlighting the stark contrast between the military build-up in the Gulf for a war that could cost as much as $100 billion - yes, billion - and the urgent need for concerted international action to relieve the plight of millions of our fellow human beings in sub-Saharan Africa.