Ethiopia is not a poor country, but an impoverished one. For thousands years the paesants have grown wheat, sesame, barley and coffee, the basic needs of a staple diet, on the highlands. The Ethiopian agronomist Hailu Getu, of the Seeds of Survival organization, has miraculously saved a handful of local cereals from extinction and today he redistributes them to thousands of small farmers. At the same time, he denounces that the genetically improved seeds, provided by international aid, are not really suitable for mountain agriculture. Also they require expensive fertilizers that are produced and sold by the same companies that control the market of laboratory treated seeds.
Director
DUCCIO CANESTRINI
Anthropologist, journalist and correspondent for geographic magazine Airone, Duccio Canestrini has directed five documentaries on the relationship between humans and the environment for the television series A New World. He has also written a number of books on travel and tourism and has held seminars and conferences on the “spirit of place” at the IULM in Milan, Campus in Lucca, Monte Verità in Ascona, and CTS in Rome. He has also lectured at the Trentino School of Management, Trento.