The Big Picture- Special Kind of Researcher

Mulugeta Semework Abebe, a 25-year-old Assistant Lecturer and graduate student at the Alemaya University of Agriculture (Ethiopia), possesses a wisdom and a poetic malaise far beyond his years. He sees clearly the forces - natural, human/societal and global/political - at work that have prevented his country from realizing its potential in many spheres, among them that closest to his heart, agriculture.

Together with the sadness, however, is coupled a determination to use his own talents for the benefit of his nation.

Mulugeta was born in Debre Marcos, a city of about 250,000 in northern Ethiopia. During high school he continually received good grades in biology and science, which put him on the path to studying agriculture at the university level. However, by the end of his third year at Asmara University, the civil strife that eventually led to the establishment of Eritrea as an independent nation, separate from Ethiopia, forced a family move, but in his quiet, determined manner, Mulugeta completed his studies in Arid Zone Crop Production at the university where he now teaches.

In December 1993, Mulugeta was approached by officials of his university who told him he had been selected to participate in a two-month course "Biophysical Aspects of Crop Production in Arid Lands," offered at the Blaustein Institute for Desert Research (of the University of the Negev in Beersheba), located at the Sde Boker Scientific Village in Israel's Negev Desert.

The impact of the course began long before Mulugeta set foot in Israel: "I remember my flight to Israel and flying over the source of the Blue Nile, watching it dissect the mountains of the country into rugs of bare soil sculptures, and washing away every inch of fertile soil thousands of kilometres away. This was a painful experience. And then to see both the water and the soil gently lying over the vast plains of Egypt, creating an alluvial area - the ends of which are beyond the spectrum of one's vision even from a height of 33,000 feet ... I was puzzled as to why God has wrought these misfortunes on my nation."

During the course, Mulugeta had the opportunity to experience many aspects of Israeli agriculture (and society) and to compare them to those he knew back home.

Following his return to Alemaya University, efforts were made to groom Mulugeta for a university career with a specialization in plant pathology, but this was an area that just didn't speak to him: "It is true that we lose part of our crops to disease, but the real problem is the lack of suitable agro-management techniques to contend with our major limiting factor - the shortage of water." Following a quiet battle of two years it was agreed that Mulugeta could pursue his Masters Degree in plant physiology and biochemistry, areas that he felt had the greatest chance of leading to significant advances in agricultural productivity.

Now, in 1996, Mulugeta is in Israel for the second time, once again fulfilling project/experimental portions of his study program, and working closely with Prof. Herman Lips of the Albert Katz Centre for Desert Agrobiology. He is pursuing some very interesting work on correlating the development of maize with its biological processes when the crop is grown under conditions of water stress. In order to pursue his research Mulugeta brought with him three varieties of local (Ethiopian) maize differing in their drought resistance: Alemaya-Composite (non-resistant), A-511 (moderately resistant) and Katumani (resistant). "Maize is our most important crop, and its cultivation is continually spreading. Yet 40% of that cultivation is practiced in water-stressed areas." An important aspect of Mulugeta's experimental program is applying the water stresses at times that simulate drought periods in his region of Ethiopia, where rainfall is bimodal (two rainy seasons a year) and a crop is likely to face a water shortage one month after planting, and then again during the grain filling stage.

The biochemical reactions in the various plant parts (root, stem, leaf, seed) are analyzed throughout the growth process. The results to date are cause for some excitement. "Our first round of experiments indicate that the amount of a single enzyme - aldehyde oxidase, called AO for short - is higher in seeds and roots of water-stressed plants. It's too early to say with certainty, but AO may be the best tool available for determining the stress-history of seeds and plant water status."

Mulugeta is already looking down the line, and giving thought to purifying the AO enzyme and making more detailed studies on its specific localization in the roots and the seeds, the mechanisms of its production and inhibition, and also on its definite functions.

On his impressions of Israel and implications for his home country, Mulugeta notes: "In Israel I discovered a society where only 3.5% of the population works in agriculture and produces enough to feed the entire country. It was clear that in Israel it is the people, and not nature, that is responsible for the bounty. The lesson is evident to me - we, in Ethiopia, must improve our ability to use what we have, and to overcome our deep-rooted affection for (and history of) war and sociopolitical barriers.

"Our land hosts more than 70 ethnic groups, speaks hundreds of languages, and contains thousands of environmental variations, but which are buckets of various inks to the painter which have not yet been used to create the beautiful picture."

Ethiopia at glance

Area:	700,000 km sq. of which about 55% is arid or semi-arid, in East Africa
Population:	50 million, a quarter of whom inhabit the drylands
Farming:	About half of the country's arable land is in the "dry-zones" but it produces only about 10% of its crops
Geographic zones:	Central highlands (more than 1500 metres above sea level) - sufficient water, sometimes even problem of water logging East and north: periodic drought Rift system: affected by salinity South: affected by acidity and salinity
Biodiversity:	possible centre of origin for human beings; centre of origin of coffee