1. Oromia Green Revolution
Relieving Malnutrition in Oromia Region,
Ethiopia
Global Health Competition
Team 6
Janis Cho, Jeong-Hwa Seo, Jacquelyn Ford,
Seamus McDonald, and Jessica Ford

2. Acute Malnutrition
• Affects up to 800,000,000 people globally
• 36,000,000 of them will die
• 18,000,000 are born mentally deficient
• 150,000 are born with severe birth defects
•350,000 children will lose their sight
•1,600,000,000 people suffer from reduced productivity
(www.un.org)

3. Acute Malnutrition in Perspective
• US $16; cost to treat malnutrition in Africa per
person per year
• Malnutrition is completely preventable and
treatable

4. Causes of Acute
Malnutrition
• Diet
– Primarily cereal diet
– Lack of necessary vitamins and minerals: Vitamin A,
Vitamin C, Iron, Protein, Beta-carotene, Folic acid, Vitamin
E, Magnesium, Calcium, Copper, Zinc
• Lack of Education
• Harmful, ancient agricultural techniques
• Environmental degradation
• Cyclical drought
• Crop diseases

5. Finding a Solution
• “If you want to develop Africa, you must develop the
leadership of African women.” ~ Sekenya Ba,
Senegal
Role of women:
• 70% food production
• 50% domestic food storage
• 100% food processing
• “Women head about 31 per cent
of households in urban and rural
areas across Africa, often with no
working resident males .”
(http://www.un.org)

6. Obstacles to Education
• Education not stable or effective when people
are malnourished
• Opportunity cost of sending children to school
when they could be helping collect fuel and
water is too great.
• Women and children are not concerned about
ABC’s when they do not know when, where,
or what their next meal will be.

7. Intervention from the Ground Up
• Our proposal entails a green revolution for the
empowerment of women in Ethiopia.
• Women and children often cannot go to
school for an education so we decided to take
education to them in the fields by:
– Teaching wise agricultural practices
– Using nutritious, native plants
– Implementing Intercropping

8. Intervention through Education
• While biscuits temporarily meet nutritional needs,
we plan to teach women how to meet their own
needs and the needs of their families.
• Hand-outs are temporary; only knowledge is
sustainable.
• Helping women help themselves
– Preserves their dignity
– Provides them with a sense of fulfillment
– Promotes independence

9. Immediate ReLEAF
• Leaf concentrate: immediate relief for malnutrition
• Nutritious food made by mechanically separating
vitamins and minerals from indigestible plant elements
• SOYNICA/APEF Study
• In 3 months: 86% children, pregnant women, and
nursing mothers no longer anemic
• Solution:
– Just 5-15 grams of LC per day is enough to replace the
animal products, the vegetables, and fruits.
– Acute Treatment: Cost of 5g a day= 3 euros (US $
4.09) per year (from France)
– Socially acceptable because it is native

10. Target location: Jimma Zone
• Location: 354 km SW of Addis Ababa
• Total population: 126,000 total,
60,000 female
• Water Source - River (Gilgal Gibe)
• Formerly a food-exporting area, poor
crop harvests and and crop diseases
have led to malnutrition, crime,
begging, reduced enrollment in
schools
• Electricity and safe water available
to nearly all Jimma Town households
• Rich soil available
• Plan to start here and expand
outward

11. Finding a Solution
• Community education center targeting
women
– Build in cooperation with Oromia Development
Association (ODA)
• Indigenous
• Non-formal education project: construction and
implementation of 90 basic adult and child education
centers
• Center: at least 2 classrooms and an office
• Cost of each center: 30,000 birr or approx. U.S. $2,000
(http://www.oda.org.et/Pages/proj.htm/Formalfrset.htm)

12. Program Incentives
• 20 families headed by women for
two years
• Incentives:
– Labor payment ($1 per day)
– Import Leaf Extract from France to
address acute malnutrition
– Primary education for children
(partner with ODA)
– After 2 years, first generation of
native trainees will be paid to train
other women (peer to peer)

13. Applied Agriculture
• Cultivate indigenous plants in community
garden
• Teach modern agricultural techniques by
example: intercropping, avoiding soil
depletion, etc.

14. Agriculture Project: Ethiopian Kale
Why Ethiopian Kale?
• Native
• Can supply edible leaves all year round
• Germination in 5 days (can harvest starting at
5 cm)
• Can grow in any soil, any acidity
• Semi-shade or no-shade tolerant
• Pest tolerant
• Self-fertile
(AVRDC Fact sheet)

15. Agriculture Project: Ethiopian Kale
• A nutritious (high protein, vitamin A and C) green-
leafy food source
• The seed can be used to produce edible oils and
mustard
• Dried Powder
• Leaf Protein Extract
• Excellent for oil seed, fermentation, salted food
• One football field of kale is enough to supplement
the food of 485 people for one year.

16. Cultivating Ethiopian Kale
• Needs nitrogen
– Enrich with manure
– Intercropping with legumes
• Needs water to produce healthy leaves
– Target locations with water first
– Use reservoir irrigation or ditch irrigation if
needed

17. Drying the Leaves
• Dried leaves used in dishes as dietary
supplement
• Wooden frame
• Stretch UV-treated
polyester film and
insect/dust cloth
over cover frame
and base
(The film lasts 4 years)
(Source: http://www.leafforlife.org/)

18. Leaf Protein Extraction Procedure
1. Wash and cut leaves
2. Grind the leaves into a
pulp
3. Press juice out of pulp
4. Heat juice, remove curd
5. Leaf concentrate remains:
10 lbs of leaves yields ½ lb
leaf concentrate
6. Can be kept in concentrate
form or dried in oven into
powder
(Source: http://www.leafforlife.org/)

19. Nutrition Comparison
The Effect of a Leaf Concentrate Supplement on
Hemoglobin Levels in Malnourished Bolivian Children: A Pilot Study (Ceri A. Lowe)
•Significant weight gains in children
•Raise in blood hemoglobin levels
•Decreased child mortality rate
•Over 1 million lives have been saved by vitamin A alone

20. Feasibility: Budget
• Leaf Concentrate
• $44600 – seeds (20 families headed by women and having 6 children each) – 2 years period
• $23840 – equipment per family
• $14,600 – labor fee (paying women $1 a day)
• $447 – others including solar box
•
• Total: $83,487
•
• Education system:
•
• $2000 – Center building
• 1,080 to hire teachers
• $480 – 120 children from participating families (France import)
• $320 – 20 women from participating
•
• Inter-cropping broad beans (vicia faba):
• $173 for 29 hectares and 20 tons

21. Remaining Budget for Continued
Agricultural Development and
Education of Women and Children
International Community School at Addis Baba, Ethiopia
Tuition for New students:

22. Summary: Plan of Action
• 1. Inspect the region, develop relationships with the natives to
identify most urgent needs
• 2. Procure and distribute leaf concentration extraction from France
• 3. Cooperate with ODA to build community education centers
• 4. Select primary women candidates (5) for initial training in leaf
concentrate extraction with Ethiopian Kale.
• 5. Partner with AVRDC (World Vegetable Center in Africa) to train
staff.
• 6. Train women in sustainable agricultural techniques, pursue
training in other educational areas as needed (US $1080 per year
for two teachers).
• 7. Develop community garden at the community center to
demonstrate agricultural techniques and to be a central location for
leaf concentrate extraction.

23. Long-term plans
• As modern agricultural techniques
gain cultural acceptance, branch
out into other community centers
• Partner with other NGOs (USAID,
Farmers to Farmers, Food for
Work)
• Follow-up and evaluate
– Pursue partnerships with agricultural
students in Ethiopian universities to help
evaluate and encourage the continuance
of training and techniques
– Offer scholarships/fellowships, or pursue
class credit

24. Low Cost: High Return Investment
• Preventative health care: birth defects, mental
deficiencies
• Improves quality of life in communities
• Better health, fewer deaths, encourages
commerce
• Empowered women
• Educated women and children

25. Questions?