A CHAMPION OF COLLABORATION
Awegechew Teshome
Born in Ethiopia, Awegechew Teshome, PhD, is a senior research scientist with a passion for traditional farming systems and their role in sustainable agriculture.
Awegechew has authored and co-authored numerous scientific publications. His research explores how family farmers manage crop diversity in complex ecosystems, highlighting the resilience and ingenuity of traditional agricultural ecosystems.
With field-based experience in more than 40 countries, Awegechew specializes in the conservation and sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity. He champions farmer- scientist collaboration and evidence-based policies that empower local communities.
His work is dedicated to building food and environmental security through science that is rooted in the recognition of farmers’ rights and knowledge, to achieve resilient, sustainable livelihoods.
Why I wrote this book
I write as a first-hand witness to the miracle and the science as demonstrated by traditional and family farmers and Indigenous people. They work collaboratively within an agricultural biodiversity framework to meet the challenges of livelihood security and environmental sustainability on-farm.
My education has come in the classroom and the laboratory and through my own extensive field-based research.
But many of the most profound lessons have come on-farm in situ, from farmers who harness the wisdom and skills of centuries of farmers before them to produce an astonishing variety and quantity and quality of crops, often in difficult conditions.
In my work as an agricultural biodiversity research scientist, I had the privilege to travel and to meet farmers and scientists in several dozen countries. Such exposure was a profound learning journey for me, one I share here for the sake of a sustainable food supply for the world.
