February 2, 2022

Preparation to commemorate Operation Fenkil

The Director General of Culture and Sports in the Northern Red Sea Region, Ms. Zeineb Omar indicated that the 32nd anniversary of Operation Fenkil will be observed from 11 to 13 February under the theme “FINKIL: Embodiment of Heroism of Generations”.

Ms. Zeineb stated that the commemoration event will be highlighted with various programs including sports competitions, seminars, interviews, photo exhibition, and cultural programs as well as laying wreath at the Martyrs Cemetery.

Ms. Zeineb also said that internationally recognized half marathon competition will be conducted in which athletes from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Sudan and Tanzania will take part.

Ms. Zeineb noted that all the programs will be conducted taking into account the restrictions issued to combat the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

February 2, 2022

Micro-credit and saving program in Southern Region

Mendefera, 01 February 2022- The micro-credit and saving program in the Southern Region reported that in 2021 over 22 million Nakfa has been disbursed to customers in 12 sub-zones of the region and 17 million Nakfa has been collected from beneficiaries of the loan.

According to the report presented at the activity assessment meeting conducted in Mendefera on 27 January, 8 thousand 691 have been beneficiaries at individual and at groups levels.

Indicating that 63% of the beneficiaries have been females, Mr. Tirfe Gebreyohannes, head of the program in the Southern Region, said that out of the beneficiaries 32% are engaged in agricultural activities, 29% in small scale trade and the remaining are government employees.

Pointing out that there is untapped investment opportunity in the region, Mr. Tirfe called on the sub-zonal administrations to support the program in its effort to expand its activity in the region.

Calling for providing due attention in supporting females to become beneficiaries of the program and improve their livelihoods, Mr. Habteab Tesfatsion, Governor of the Southern Region, called on all concerned institutions to support the program in all its endeavors.

Micro-credit and saving program in the Southern Region has village banks in 160 administrative areas and in 661 villages.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

February 2, 2022

Ask the Foodie

There was a time when I used to confuse RSVP with SRPQ that appear in invitation cards. It was later on that I learned the latter acronym stood for Senatus Romanus Populusque or something like that which has something to do with the Roman Senates in the past. Do they want me to wear a toga?

Then I found out that the first acronym means “Please Reply” in French. To be frank I never replied and I didn’t see the reason why, for in our culture you don’t tell your host that you are not coming to the party. And if you decide to go anyway, taking your friend along is not considered a breach of propriety. After all, the host is there to give out everything he/she has in the house and is prepared for any eventuality.

Another term used in invitation cards is Regrets Only. Although it is very clear to anyone, sometimes it makes you think that it had a different interpretation. Like, for example, you call your hosts telling them how much you regretted spending the night with them when you should have stayed home playing with the cat.

Add to this instructions that tell you that you should dress casually or formally, that you should bring the invitation card along and present it at the gate, that you could bring your wife (if married) but not your kids, etc. and you feel a bit uneasy.

Time for a story!

Yonas, the foodie and a bachelor by choice, was once given by a friend an invitation card which instructed him in no uncertain terms that he should be there at 1pm. “Let us respect time,” it concluded.

Being a very time-conscious person he arrived at the site at 12:45 and was ushered into an empty hall with few cooks and members of the organizing committee moving here and there. For all they cared he could be a wedding feast nut who could not contain his feelings. He waited for one hour to see the hall half-full and another half-hour for the organizing committee to become aware of the guests. Even though the bottles of Suwa and soft drinks sat quietly on the table, no one was allowed to touch them until the priest gave the departing signal by saying grace. The bride and groom arrived at 2:30pm. The guests were only able to eat at 3. It was a buffet with a long and tortuous queue. Yonas has seen people returning to their tables heaping their plates with all kinds of food. When his turn arrived, there was no trace of food on the banquet table. It was gone. Bad food management plus unbridled gluttony. What is this craze with food that blinds men to their noble mission on earth? Have they not heard that man does not live by bread alone? If it were not for some kind-hearted people, who understood the Gospel words above, he would have left the feast with an empty stomach and an everlasting grudge.

Most of the time the food we eat at formal invitations are not good. That’s why people flock to the table that dispenses drinks. I have a feeling that Eritreans relish drinks more than they do food; and whisky is their favorite. Otherwise one becomes fed up in the end with mortadellas and cheese that are served in most receptions in Asmara. First food and drinks are served, followed by more food and drinks.

Those who are satiated express their gratitude and leave. But those who know the secret prefer to stay. Besides, they know how to wait. Yonas is one of them. He plays the vulture. Finally the long expected cheese, the well-reserved Gaelic invention, which gladdened the palates of European monarchs in the past, arrives and the invited guests become restive. With determined steps they approach the table where le fromage is displayed. It is gastronomic masterpiece. La Gruyere (tastes like garlic), Camembert (tastes like ricotta), cow cheese, goat cheese, sheep cheese (which tastes like brine), and cheese that smells like rotten egg, that tastes like eye ointment and feels like cork (apology to the gourmets). Apparently you eat it and feel like medieval hero but your breath stinks so much that your spouse may end up deciding to join the French Foreign Legion just to stay away from you. “One of the reasons I am not married,” says Yonas. “I can eat all the cheese I want.”

But the most exquisite food that had left an everlasting impression in Yonas’s taste buds was served to him by one of his Russian friends in a neighboring country. As he sat in the living room with a friend he brought along, they waited for the sumptuous dinner to arrive. The waitress trotted in carrying half-full glasses of Coke and bowls of peanuts. “What is going on?” Yonas asked himself. Has the Russian received a dispatch regarding some kind of policy change attacking good food as yet another decadent bourgeois culture? But Yonas, the experienced foodie, again played the vulture. He waited.

But when his host took him to the adjacent room and showed him a documentary film on the triumph of the Bolsheviks, his heart sunk. When the film came to an end and the room was lit again, they were shown to a vast hall filled with all sorts of food to feast one’s eyes on. Roasted fish, smoked fish, caviar, steak tartar, fried potatoes, roasted meat, fondue de Bourguignon, various kinds of pastry, fruits, drinks, enough to fill the stomachs of a full regiment of a Cossack army. “Aha! So he was trying to test our will power right from the start?” said Yonas to himself. His friend who congratulated himself for deciding to wait felt like singing the international.

That was a long time ago. And the stomach has a tendency to forget just as much as does the mind.

Something similar to the old experience was in one way or another repeated in a reception given at the Roof Garden restaurant on the fifth floor of the National Insurance Corporation of Eritrea.

When he first saw the site, with its Irish pub, he thought it was some sort of a night club. With an invitation card in his hand (he couldn’t put it in his pocket given its size) he marched to the place and presented himself.

He was told by some of the organizers that Chinese and Indian dishes were available any time. The idea of inviting people was simply to introduce them to the shapes of things to come. Based on this he was served with all types of food that would make a Five Star restaurant chef turn green with envy.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

February 2, 2022

Ministry of Agriculture: Annual Assessment Meeting

The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) held an annual assessment meeting from 27 to 28 January 2022 at its headquarters in Asmara. Progress reports of the six regions, results of agricultural research and experiments, work done in soil and water conservation, development of irrigation systems, improvement of machinery-assisted farms, enhancement of laboratory experiments and regulatory services were extensively discussed at the meeting.

The development and promotion of bio-pesticides and bio-fertilizer by the Agricultural Extension Department are major achievements registered in agriculture. For instance, the Neem seed oil used as botanical pesticide has shown a remarkable result. The Agricultural Extension Department also made a remarkable progress in disease prevention and control. It was able to give vaccination against PPR to a total of 2,479,000 livestock and is making efforts to eradicate Rabies from Eritrea by 2030.

Pest surveillance activities were extensively carried out in a bid to control desert locust infested areas. As a result, 7,165 hectares of infested areas were treated successfully in Northern Red Sea (NRS) and Southern Red Sea (SRS) regions. Likewise, a total of 1,950 hectares of land infested by tree locusts was treated successfully in Tesenai and Golij sub-zones, Gash-Barka region. What is more, pests on citrus fruits were identified and successfully treated. Activities to control migratory pests were also successfully carried out in different regions of the country in 2021.

Eritrea hosted the 66th regular session of Desert Locust Control Organization for Eastern Africa (DLCO-EA) executive committee and Council of Ministers held on 4-8 October, 2021. The session, which was attended by delegates from all nine member countries, was a major achievement of the Agricultural Extension Department.

The annual report highlighted that Gulie masonry dam is boosting agricultural produce transforming irrigation systems. Ongoing efforts to enhance seed multiplication and distribution, dairy development, animal breeding and poultry activities, the construction of check dams and other types of terraces such as channel and bench terraces as part of soil and water conservation activities carried out across the country and the steady developments in agro-mechanization, the empowerment of regional laboratories were also discussed in the presentations.

The National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) carried out various crop improvement works in Southern and Gash-Barka regions. An observation experiment held on local cherry tomato in Halhlale showed the variety to be resistant to early blight disease and yield 130 quintals per hectare. An observation trial on local chili pepper has also been carried out to identify a better species for multiplication.

The institute carries out numerous works in soil and water conservation. The introduction of lupine animal feed and its contribution in augmenting dairy and honey production were some of the other major achievements of NARI. NARI has been carrying out research activities in eight stations and substations of the agro ecological zones of Eritrea located in Halhale, Shambuko, Goluj, Hagaz, Aqordet, Shieb, Gahtelay, Afdeyu and Adi-Keieh.

The Regulatory Services Department, which has been working on awareness raising programs about food safety, has been monitoring small scale milk and meat products processing plants to ensure that customers get healthy products.

Registration and certification of bio-fertilizers is to be seen as a major achievement of the regulatory service. The Regulatory Service Department found 200 tons of compost produced by ‘Tsegana’ private enterprise in Gheshnashim, Central region, to be of desired standard and distributed it to farmers in the village organized under a project aimed at strengthening soil fertility through the empowerment of climate-smart communities. The department has also succeeded in controlling Illegal entry of animals and plants to the country.

The National Animal and Plant Health Laboratory (NAPHL) has been making progress in testing the quality of seed and seedling and the quality and safety of food by analyzing and verifying the quality and safety of agricultural inputs and outputs. In addition to its usual activities, the NAPHL took part in the production of bio-pesticides and preparation of a dictionary focusing on agriculture.

An intense comparison was made to address the gaps between production and productivity. Tends of soil and water conservation on farm was viewed as a positive factor that needs to be reinforced in impacting farm activities. The impacts of field crop, horticulture, intensively managed dairy cattle in augmenting production, trend of forage production, poultry, bee keeping and its impact in honey production were also discussed.

The annual report was different from reports in the past. The presenters and moderators were all young men and women agronomists, a sign of the transfer of responsibility from veterans and the empowerment of young professionals carried out at the MoA.

In his closing speech at the end of the two-day session, Mr. Arefaine Berhe, Minister of Agriculture, expressed his appreciation to the presenters and commended senior heads of departments and units for the encouragement they forwarded to their subordinates. Mr. Arefaine noted that the engagement of the youth workers is quite imperative in the transfer of skill as well as in building excellence.

Mr. Arefaine stressed that farmers should be encouraged to store ample amount of animal feed in times of plenty as a backup plan to be used during dry seasons. “The major focus needs to be directed towards productivity. Once productivity is ensured it will definitely impact agricultural produce of any sort,” he added.

Mr. Arefaine said most of the agricultural activities carried out until 2013 aimed at ensuring food security, and the focus shifted in 2014 towards ensuring nutrition security.

Mr. Arefaine said that the import of dairy products stopped with the opening of some small scale enterprises specializing in milk and other dairy products. This achievement was part and parcel of the efforts being made to provide nutritious food to the general public. As the dairy products are still not affordable for many, Minimal Integrated Household Agricultural Package (MIHAP) needs to be promoted further as a perfect tool towards ensuring nutrition security, Mr. Arefaine said. “Sweet potato should be extensively cultivated by farmers to impact the efforts being exerted in ensuring nutrition security.”

In terms of human resource development, Mr. Arefaine said the primary objectives of opening Halemlalo Agricultural College was to train professionals and provide skilled workers for small scale private enterprises of dairy products and to enable the graduates to transform the farm practices into advanced agriculture.

Indicating that the cultivation of date palms through the development of tissue culture and other mechanisms has been showing remarkable progress, Mr. Arefaine finally said that a strategic plan that serves until 2026 has been mapped out to plant around 200,000 date palm trees in the NRS and SRS regions as well as hot places in Gash-Barka, Anseba and Southern regions.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea