UEA student from Ethiopia will study farms' water challenges

Hileena Chole is the first recipient of the Norfolk International Scholarship, launched at the Royal Norfolk Show, aiming to help farmers manage the impact of climate change.

The 37-year-old moved to Norwich last year to study for an MA in agriculture and rural development at the University of East Anglia, having previously worked to support smallholders in her home country - helping to train farmers and take them from subsistence to more commercial food production.

Although Norfolk's farming landscape is very different, there are shared challenges relating to climate change, droughts and water availability - which she will now be exploring using case studies in southern European countries like Portugal.

"I am very, very excited," she said. "This is a fantastic opportunity to really spend some time diving deeply into this topic. I am not quite sure what it will bring, but very open to this journey.

"It is do with water management, as climate change is changing the amount of water we have available for irrigation. In some cases we have too much rainfall, in other cases we have too little, so how do farmers manage this, how do they come together to cooperate and manage the water we do have, to be more efficient and more effective with resources that are becoming increasingly scarce?

"The idea is to first spend some time understanding the challenges that Norfolk farmers face in terms of water access for irrigation at the moment. The next step is to try and bring in some case studies from other places, to see how farmers are managing with water scarcity in other parts of the world. 

"I think southern Europe is very relevant as it is quite dry with low rainfall, so I want to find out what they are doing there, what has been proven effective, then bring that back to see how much is applicable and relevant to the farmers in Norfolk."

The catastrophic droughts which Ethiopia has suffered in the past have also influenced her perspective on this global issue.

"It does frame my thinking around it, because I understand the water issue and we do have droughts quite frequently," she said. "Ethiopia is an agrarian country so if we have drought, that is a big deal, with a lot of livelihoods and a lot of food sources being affected. So that is always in the back of my mind."

The new scholarship is part of a partnership between the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association (RNAA) and the Norwich Institute for Sustainable Development (NISD), with support from the JC Mann Charitable Trust.

It was launched at a reception for scholars and funders at the Royal Norfolk Show.

RNAA vice president Poul Hovesen said the association has allocated £150,000 of grant and bursary funding since 2022, and that the new scholarship would bring international insights on water management that would be "of benefit to farmers and growers in Norfolk, and beyond".

UEA master's student Hileena Chole, the first recipient of the Norfolk International Scholarship, pictured with RNAA vice president Poul Hovesen at the Royal Norfolk Show (Image: UEA)

Tim Papworth, chairman of the Norfolk branch of the National Farmers’ Union, said: “We need to understand how to get water in the right places at the right times.

"There are urgent issues in Norfolk around drought, and flooding, both of which lead to crop loss. With better planning and infrastructure, water can be stored from rainfall events for later use.

"We hope to use this first pilot scholar support to investigate how this is done cooperatively in other parts of Europe and bring the best of that learning back to Norfolk.”

Mark Nicholas, managing director of the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association, said: “We’re delighted to have set up this new annual scholarship in partnership with the Norwich Institute for Sustainable Development, and with the generous support of the JC Mann Charitable Trust.

"With a changing climate, it’s vital that we support the next generation of leaders in agriculture to find solutions to the challenges that we face, such as water management."

Prof Nitya Rao, director of the Norwich Institute for Sustainable Development, said: "This scholarship marks our commitment to working across geographical and subject boundaries to look at how we can help famers to address practical problems.

"Our experts from the UEA and the internationally-renowned Norwich Research Park work closely with famers and rural communities and help support food security and sustainability."