Should we seed Etheopia from the Air?

[Swiftor Tayl]

Drilling wells with windmill driven pumps could help.

Instead of digging a hole in the ground and scooping water out with your hand.

[Skeptikosia]

America has been funneling money, wheat, and rice to africa by the super duper cargo container for decades.

The problem isn't a lack of food.

[Ailos (Ancient)]

this may or may not be a viable explanation but im currently taking advance placement world history and back during the days of the Roman Empire, Rome went to war with Carthage(present day ethiopia) and its leader Hannibal. Carthage lost and the romans spread salt on the soil. Salt on soil completley ruins it and makes it unfertile, thus giving future african generations a bleak future.

[Lackadaisical2]

For some reason if it was as easy as dropping seed along a river, I would think the ethiopians would have done it by now...

They have airplanes?

probably. But you wouldn't really need airplanes if you're just putting the stuff on top of the dirt, anyone could walk by and drop it on the fuckin ground.

[Lackadaisical2]

this may or may not be a viable explanation but im currently taking advance placement world history and back during the days of the Roman Empire, Rome went to war with Carthage(present day ethiopia) and its leader Hannibal. Carthage lost and the romans spread salt on the soil. Salt on soil completley ruins it and makes it unfertile, thus giving future african generations a bleak future.

Please god, be joking.

Ethiopia=/= carthage, Carthage was never salted.

[Mad hatters in jeans]

as i read this thread my music shifted to the cult song, 'rain'. the horrible irony hits me like a tidal wave.

[Lacadaemon]

America has been funneling money, wheat, and rice to africa by the super duper cargo container for decades.

The problem isn't a lack of food.

Actually, that's part of the general problem. Food aid destroys the domestic agricultural base. Except in very short term emergency situations, it does more harm than good.

Rather than sending food, send people to set up farms at the appropriate development level.

Actually, the Indians just leased a shit load of land there to farm. But I doubt the Ethiopians will see much, if any, of the food grown. I am wondering how the new colonialism is going to work out.

[Mad hatters in jeans]

America has been funneling money, wheat, and rice to africa by the super duper cargo container for decades.

The problem isn't a lack of food.

Actually, that's part of the general problem. Food aid destroys the domestic agricultural base. Except in very short term emergency situations, it does more harm than good.

Rather than sending food, send people to set up farms at the appropriate development level.

Actually, the Indians just leased a shit load of land there to farm. But I doubt the Ethiopians will see much, if any, of the food grown. I am wondering how the new colonialism is going to work out.

for the greater good that doesn't include the Ethiopians?

[Ailos (Ancient)]

this may or may not be a viable explanation but im currently taking advance placement world history and back during the days of the Roman Empire, Rome went to war with Carthage(present day ethiopia) and its leader Hannibal. Carthage lost and the romans spread salt on the soil. Salt on soil completley ruins it and makes it unfertile, thus giving future african generations a bleak future.

Please god, be joking.

Ethiopia=/= carthage, Carthage was never salted.

Dude are you serious, Carthage was salted for rebelling against the romans a second time i could give you a page number paragraph number of my ap world history textbook

[Lacadaemon]

for the greater good that doesn't include the Ethiopians?

I suppose it all depends whether or not the Indians use local labor, or they export their own poor. I'd guess if they use Ethiopians, they'll have to feed at least some of them.

[Lacadaemon]

Dude are you serious, Carthage was salted for rebelling against the romans a second time i could give you a page number paragraph number of my ap world history textbook

Yah, but Carthage is in Tunisia.

[Lackadaisical2]

this may or may not be a viable explanation but im currently taking advance placement world history and back during the days of the Roman Empire, Rome went to war with Carthage(present day ethiopia) and its leader Hannibal. Carthage lost and the romans spread salt on the soil. Salt on soil completley ruins it and makes it unfertile, thus giving future african generations a bleak future.

Please god, be joking.

Ethiopia=/= carthage, Carthage was never salted.

Dude are you serious, Carthage was salted for rebelling against the romans a second time i could give you a page number paragraph number of my ap world history textbook

Go ahead, I've heard it was complete BS.

Who would waste all that valuable salt to destroy soemthing you just conquered anyway?

[Ailos (Ancient)]

Dude are you serious, Carthage was salted for rebelling against the romans a second time i could give you a page number paragraph number of my ap world history textbook

Yah, but Carthage is in Tunisia.

Ok first of all i want to clarify im all for seeding ethiopia from the ari or some other means, but Carthage was an empier contemporary to Rome encompassing parts of ethiopia

[Grays Harbor]

this may or may not be a viable explanation but im currently taking advance placement world history and back during the days of the Roman Empire, Rome went to war with Carthage(present day ethiopia) and its leader Hannibal. Carthage lost and the romans spread salt on the soil. Salt on soil completley ruins it and makes it unfertile, thus giving future african generations a bleak future.

Please god, be joking.

Ethiopia=/= carthage, Carthage was never salted.

Dude are you serious, Carthage was salted for rebelling against the romans a second time i could give you a page number paragraph number of my ap world history textbook

Actually, the salting of Carthage is a myth. What probably happened was that after the city was razed by the Romans, Scipio tossed a handful of salt somewhere on the rubble to "salt the earth". Salt itself was too precious a commodity back then to waste on something like salting the ground of an entire city anyhow.

[Skeptikosia]

America has been funneling money, wheat, and rice to africa by the super duper cargo container for decades.

The problem isn't a lack of food.

Actually, that's part of the general problem. Food aid destroys the domestic agricultural base. Except in very short term emergency situations, it does more harm than good.

Rather than sending food, send people to set up farms at the appropriate development level.

Actually, the Indians just leased a shit load of land there to farm. But I doubt the Ethiopians will see much, if any, of the food grown. I am wondering how the new colonialism is going to work out.

Food aid can't hurt local agriculture if:

1) the locals are convinced it's poison, and

2) the local rulers keep it for the military.

I agree with your point about food aid hurting production in theory, it's just not how I see it playing out.

It's also problematic when you have the local rulers "nationalizing" farms, which instantly stop producing.

And I don't see it as colonialism if they're paying for the property use.

[Lackadaisical2]

this may or may not be a viable explanation but im currently taking advance placement world history and back during the days of the Roman Empire, Rome went to war with Carthage(present day ethiopia) and its leader Hannibal. Carthage lost and the romans spread salt on the soil. Salt on soil completley ruins it and makes it unfertile, thus giving future african generations a bleak future.

Please god, be joking.

Ethiopia=/= carthage, Carthage was never salted.

Dude are you serious, Carthage was salted for rebelling against the romans a second time i could give you a page number paragraph number of my ap world history textbook

Actually, the salting of Carthage is a myth. What probably happened was that after the city was razed by the Romans, Scipio tossed a handful of salt somewhere on the rubble to "salt the earth". Salt itself was too precious a commodity back then to waste on something like salting the ground of an entire city anyhow.

Beat you to it. Although you had a more thorough and eloquent explanation.

[Lacadaemon]

Ok first of all i want to clarify im all for seeding ethiopia from the ari or some other means, but Carthage was an empier contemporary to Rome encompassing parts of ethiopia

No. It didn't. Egypt was in the way. So it never got that far.

Anyway, as the legend goes, they only salted around the city itself after the conclusion of the third punic war (by which time it had virtually no empire anyway). At least that's what they told me when I visited. And the reason for salting it was precisely because it was so expensive, so it was a demonstration of power and extreme retribution.

Though as was pointed out to you, it's probably a bullshit story. Good one though.

[Mad hatters in jeans]

for the greater good that doesn't include the Ethiopians?

I suppose it all depends whether or not the Indians use local labor, or they export their own poor. I'd guess if they use Ethiopians, they'll have to feed at least some of them.

one way Ethiopa loses, the other way they lose more, some decision they have.

[Assyriax]

dont care its their problem and besides dropping seeds from the air sounds really expensive

[Lacadaemon]

Food aid can't hurt local agriculture if:

1) the locals are convinced it's poison, and

2) the local rulers keep it for the military.

I agree with your point about food aid hurting production in theory, it's just not how I see it playing out.

Sometimes food aid does get through to the people though. And it does destroy the local agricultural economy. And even if the local rulers keep it, they normally have far more than they can use, so they sell it at below market prices bankrupting the local farms that have any surplus. It grinds everything back to below subsistence levels. At any rate, I think you can agree, even if not on the details, that as it is currently operates, it's not very well run or thought out.

It's also problematic when you have the local rulers "nationalizing" farms, which instantly stop producing.

Yah, that's not normally too bright either.

And I don't see it as colonialism if they're paying for the property use.

Well I think there are two issues here. First, I'm not sure the local government that is handing the land over is actually compensating the people on it. In fact I'm pretty certain they are not, since property rights are virtually non existent in these areas. But you can bet some was farming it (or had done so in the past) before India showed up.

Second, there is bound to come a point where the locals reckon they are getting fucked from this deal. Happens all the time. Is India going to shrug and just write the investment off? They may well do. But that is not normally how these things wind up. Especially since India is developing these areas as part of its own food security strategy.

Of course it may well all work out fine, but I foresee many problems.

[Maurepas]

I think we should seed Mars from the air,

[Mad hatters in jeans]

I think we should seed Mars from the air,

there's something freudian about sending a spaceship specifically to spread it's seed to a desolate planet where aliens live.

[Skeptikosia]

Food aid can't hurt local agriculture if:

1) the locals are convinced it's poison, and

2) the local rulers keep it for the military.

I agree with your point about food aid hurting production in theory, it's just not how I see it playing out.

Sometimes food aid does get through to the people though. And it does destroy the local agricultural economy. And even if the local rulers keep it, they normally have far more than they can use, so they sell it at below market prices bankrupting the local farms that have any surplus. It grinds everything back to below subsistence levels. At any rate, I think you can agree, even if not on the details, that as it is currently operates, it's not very well run or thought out.

It's also problematic when you have the local rulers "nationalizing" farms, which instantly stop producing.

Yah, that's not normally too bright either.

And I don't see it as colonialism if they're paying for the property use.

Well I think there are two issues here. First, I'm not sure the local government that is handing the land over is actually compensating the people on it. In fact I'm pretty certain they are not, since property rights are virtually non existent in these areas. But you can bet some was farming it (or had done so in the past) before India showed up.

Second, there is bound to come a point where the locals reckon they are getting fucked from this deal. Happens all the time. Is India going to shrug and just write the investment off? They may well do. But that is not normally how these things wind up. Especially since India is developing these areas as part of its own food security strategy.

Of course it may well all work out fine, but I foresee many problems.

We're both pretty much on the same page. We just view the situation slightly differently.

All that place needs are a few good organized revolutions, then we might have less difficulty dealing with them as actual nations.

[Iniika]

I saw something like this on the discovery channel a while back when I still had the discovery channel. Can't remember the particulars of it other than they were trying to reintroduce some bush or vine or something into an area where it had vanished and so they were planning to drop a bunch seed bombs down on the soil.... Long story short, it ended in fail.

[Skeptikosia]

I think we should seed Mars from the air,

there's something freudian about sending a spaceship specifically to spread it's seed to a desolate planet where aliens live.

Panspermia FTW!