Agriculture dominates Ethiopia’s economy, and around 80 per cent of the population live in rural areas. Ethiopia has varied natural landscapes and climatic conditions that enable diverse agricultural production. At the same time, there is growing demand for food in local and international markets.
The mainly smallholder farms cannot quantitatively or qualitatively cover food needs domestically or the export demand. Food may spoil between harvest and trade, while nutrient losses or impurities can reduce the quality of the produce. The agriculture sector suffers from insufficient and poor agricultural raw materials (such as seeds) and unfavourable political structures that do not provide enough support to smallholder farms and processing companies.
Target: Across production, processing and marketing, agriculture is more efficient in selected regions of Ethiopia.
The project works in the following areas:
• It advises the government and administrative bodies at national and regional level on the planning and implementation of harmonised agricultural policy. Dialogue forums are designed to involve representatives of the private sector in policy-making.
• It supports innovation aimed at avoiding losses during the harvesting of fruit, vegetables and oilseeds.
• It improves the supply chains of private companies through development partnerships and establishes cooperation arrangements between smallholder farms and processing and marketing businesses.
• It advises private agricultural organisations on how to better represent their interests to state administrations.