Zero HungerJuly 2016

Building the resilience of farming and agro pastoral communities

A biannual newsletter that updates latest information from the FAO Representation in Ethiopia.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is the specialized agency of the United Nations for food, nutrition, agriculture, and forestry. FAO’s global vision is for a world free from hunger and malnutrition where food and agriculture contribute to improving the living standards for all, especially the poorest, in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner. Achieving food security for all is at the heart of FAO’s efforts – to make sure people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives.

Our three main goals are: • the eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition; • the elimination of poverty and the driving forward of economic and social progress for all; and• the sustainable management and utilization of natural resources, including land, water, air, climate and genetic resources for the benefit of present and future generations.

The FAO Strategic Objectives:• Help eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition;• Make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable;• Reduce rural poverty;• Enable inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems; and• Increase the resilience of livelihoods to threats and crises.

About FAOEthiopia has been an FAO member since 1948, and in 1981 FAO opened an office, which today serves as the Sub-Regional Office for Eastern Africa and FAO Representation to the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission as well as FAO Representation

in Ethiopia. An active partnership has resulted in 100 FAO projects over the past decade alone, ranging from support to policymaking, natural resource management and land administration to livestock, crop and fruit production and agribusiness development. Development interventions to increase agricultural productivity and competitiveness

are coupled with disaster response and rehabilitation support.

Matching FAO’s expertise to Ethiopia’s development priorities

FAO assistance in Ethiopia is shaped by the 2016-2020 FAO CountryProgramming Framework (CPF), which centres on three priority areas: • Improving crop production, productivity and commercialization; • Improving livestock and fisheries production, productivity and commercialization; and• Enhancing sustainable natural resource management.

In addition, the following cross-cuttings priority areas will be addressed: resilience building, climate change, policy analysis, investment support, coordination, and knowledge management. Jointly developed with the Government and other partners, the CPF is aligned with the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) for Ethiopia and supports national development objectives.

FAO and Ethiopia

African Union; European Union (EU); Italian Government; Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA); Norwegian Government, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); Swiss Government; The Government of Belgium; The Government of China; UK Department for International Development (DFID)

FAO’s programmes in Ethiopia has been funded by the following agencies and Governments:

FAO Ethiopia2

“FAO’s global vision is for a world free

from hunger and malnutrition.

Editorial Team

Amadou Allhoury Diallo, FAO Representative to EthiopiaHassen Ali, Assistant FAO Representative in EthiopiaTamiru Legesse, National Communication Officer

Contributions: Fikre Mulugeta, Melakneh Gelet, Shawel Moreda, Nigist Haile, Gijs van’t Klooster, Kelay Belihu, Fentahun Assefa, VSF Germany, Bayeh Mulatu. Hussein Kebede, Alemu YamiPhotos: Tamiru Legesse, Gijs van’t Klooster, Kelay Belihu, Fentahun Assefa, Nigist HaileGraphic Design: Tamiru Legesse

Dear Readers,

Welcome to this issue of the newsletter of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Ethiopia.

We started 2016 with a fresh spirit of commitment to the people of Ethiopia. FAO Ethiopia has finalized a five year (2016 – 2020) country programming framework, being implemented in line with the Ethiopian Government’s Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II).

The framework was developed in full participation and consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Key stakeholders provided valuable inputs during the validation workshops organized for the purpose of collecting inputs to shape and enrich the CPF.

The CPF guides FAO’s support to the Government of Ethiopia through three priority areas: crop production, livestock and fisheries production and sustainable natural resources management. The crop priority area focuses on crop intensification

New FAO Country Programming Framework for Ethiopia and diversification, nutrition-sensitive agriculture, value chain promotion, agribusiness development, post-harvest management and climate-smart agriculture.

Livestock is a priority for the country. FAO gives special attention to strengthening animal disease management and livestock feed production and utilization. We promote Ethiopia’s livestock and fisheries resources to ensure households’ food security and nutrition.

Natural resources degradation remained a challenge. Significant investments are required to reverse the situation. FAO will continue building the capacity for effective natural resources management, information system and climate change adaptation and mitigation. FAO requires USD 65.6 million to achieve the priority results set out in the CPF.

Together we can build the Zero Hunger Generation.

Zero

Hu

ng

erFAO Representation in EthiopiaCMC Road, Gurd SholaP O Box 5536, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaTel. +251 11 647 8888Fax. +251 11 647 8800Email: FAO-ET@fao.rogWebsite – www.fao.org/EthiopiaTwitter: https://twitter.com/FAOEthiopiaFlickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/faooftheun

A biannual newsletter that updates latest information from the FAO Representation in Ethiopia.

Amadou Allahoury Diallo FAO Representative in Ethiopia

Note from the Country Representative

FAO Ethiopia3

CONTENTS 5

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FAO-Government collaboration on national forest inventory

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Breaking poverty cycle through ASTF

Web-based E-monitoring system for the MoANRs

Changes in the Omo valley

Strengthening highland fruit nursery

Public-private partnership for youth employment opportunities

Innovative Agricultural Solutions: building smallholder farmers’ resilience

Technical support to Ethiopia’s Agricultural Growth Programme

Water catchment, a lifeline for Afar herders

Resilience building projects for Afar pastoralists

Improving animal health service delivery

CBAHWs provide animal health service in their communities

Millions of smallholder farmers and herders require agricultural support

PFS shares experiences with experts from the Sahelian region

Threshing machine reduces post harvest losses

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Forest inventory outputs contribute to a strong forest monitoring system for sustainable economic and social benefits

FAO – Government joint collaboration for a national forest inventory (NFI) and national forest measurement, reporting and verification system for REDD+ readiness in Ethiopia

In collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change conducted a national forest inventory (NFI) at 631 sampling units in all regions of Ethiopia. The project began in March 2014 following the signing of a technical support agreement between the Ministry and FAO.

Studies indicate that millions of Ethiopians rely on forest resources for their basic needs, including food and constructing shelter. Forest resources also serve as a means of livelihood and income, source of traditional and modern medicines, as well as other valuable benefits. Equally important, the forest ecosystems maintain a proper functioning of nutrient and hydrological cycles and providing immeasurable ecosystem services that control and balance rain fed agriculture systems in Ethiopia.

However, a lack of strong capacity of the forestry sector, coupled

with lack of awareness about forest resources in the past years and ineffective forest policies, have caused destruction of the forests as a result of unchecked use and mismanagement of forestland for agriculture and other purposes.

Driving factors for the inventory The NFI cooperation was founded to address insufficient amount

of quantified information on the current status of forest cover and spatial information regarding forestry’s underestimated contribution to the economy.

The cooperation was extended to strengthening the implementation of the National Forest Monitoring and Measurement Reporting and Verification (MRV) system. This supports Ethiopia’s initiative to “Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation” through satellite-based monitoring, measurement of

REDD+*: Reducing Emissions from deforestation and forest degradation

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Wof-washa forest in Amhara Region

emissions and removal of the emission level due to deforestation. Basis for Ethiopia’s forest development Important outputs were reached after conducting multiple steps of

NFI and satellite image analysis. Emission factors, basal area, above-ground biomass(AGB), below-ground biomass (BGB), count of trees, shrubs and saplings, biomass of deadwood and litter were estimated from the NFI data at subnational level and the overall information will be released upon the completion of NFI.

The extent of changes in forest cover and land use between 2000 and 2013 has been used as a reference level to measure changes in historical carbon emissions from deforestation. It is from this reference level that Ethiopia’s efforts in reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide will be measured by implementing REDD+ activities to get performance based payments.

The NFI and mapping quantified how many forest resources were found and where, so that adequate information can be obtained for planning, management and utilization of forests. This information will help better quantify the forestry sector’s contribution to the national gross domestic product.

The aggregated information from the NFI and spatial analysis can be used as primary baseline information for various decision-making processes in forest development, biodiversity and conservation studies and the formulation and assessment of forest policy, law and regulations. Above all, the country is creating a solid forest monitoring system by combining permanent networks of ground sampling units, which are periodically revisited, and remote sensing technology, which generates information about changes in forest coverage annually or biannually.

Provides consistent forest information The Ethiopian NFI is significant in that it provides valuable forest

information for consistent and informed decision-making in forest development, conservation and utilization. The NFI is further strengthening the country’s effort in establishing a strong forest monitoring system for sustainable economic and social benefits. Globally, the outputs of the project contribute to the abatement of atmospheric carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas and reduction of the effects of climate change. The NFI ensures efforts in sustainable forest development, management and utilization; improves knowledge and builds capacity to fill the gaps in generating reliable

information for different national and regional level forest resource-related decision-making.

Stakeholders involved Several institutions were involved during the training, the planning

and designing of the NFI and preparation of forest map and activity data. These institutions include the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Addis Ababa University, Wondo Genet College of Natural Resources, Ethiopian Mapping Agency, Forestry Research Centre, Institute of Biodiversity and Oromia Forest and Wildlife Enterprise (OFWE). Federal and regional experts from Amahara, Gambella, Oromia, SNNP and Somali Regions participated in NFI.

FAO supported the NFI in designing the inventory through scientific procedures and acquainted the field technicians with the necessary skills for field planning, resource mobilization, tree measurement, validation of field forms, quality assurance and control, NFI data entry, analysis and interpretation. Moreover, FAO supported the establishment of MRV system through devising methodology for land use and cover mapping, forest monitoring system using satellite imagery, and preparation of forest area change activity data using open source geospatial solutions.

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Field activities during NFI

Breaking poverty cycles through Africa Solidarity Trust Fund in Ethiopia’s Somali Region

High levels of food insecurity and malnutrition affects Ethiopia’s Somali Region despite general long-term improvements in the overall food security situation of the country. The impacts of recurrent droughts, climate change, environmental degradation and insufficient livelihood options have trapped rural communities in a perpetual cycle of poverty.

To help tackle this challenge, the Africa Solidarity Trust Fund (ASTF) supported six communities in Gursum and Erer districts through the project “Enhanced livelihoods and poverty reduction through economic diversification and decent work opportunities”. Two-thousand households in these communities benefited from skills training and input provision for poultry, crop and forage production.

The project was implemented in partnership with Somali Region’s Agriculture and Natural

Irrigation and crop intensification transforms livelihoods of rural communities

Resources Management and Livestock and Pastoralist Development Bureaus. Extension experts from these offices provided training and follow-up support for the targeted farmers and community-based extension workers, who assisted farmers closely with translating training into practice.

Supporting crop production cooperativesASTF supported six local cooperatives

predominantly engaged in crop and forage production with skills training, input provision and close advice and follow up. The cooperatives were trained on crop husbandry, farmland preparation, weed and pest control, fertilizer use, cooperative business skills and marketing, and post-harvest management to reduce crop losses.

The capacity training was followed by provision of agricultural inputs such as improved seeds – including maize, sorghum, haricot beans and vegetables and fertilizers to improve crop production. In order to improve livestock production, forage seeds and cuttings of Sudan and Elephant grass were provided to grow alongside food crops.

Those cooperatives which have access to irrigation facilities are producing three to four times a year by crop rotation. Vegetables, including tomato, onion, carrot and red pepper are grown during moisture-stress dry seasons using irrigation. To enhance income diversification, mango and papaya seedlings were given to the cooperatives.

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What the cooperatives have achieved The Hodan cooperative in Fafan Community comprises 12

members (five women and seven men). The cooperative is engaged in the production of cereal crops, fruit, vegetables, haricot beans and forage. After receiving training and inputs, the cooperative planted their farmland, and managed to harvest different crops up to three to four times a year.

The cooperative earned ETB 36 000 from its production in the previous year. Additionally, members were able to share the produces among themselves, contributing to household food security. The cooperative has been able to save and bank their profit, about ETB 17 000.

Increased income has allowed the cooperative to invest in the farm. With ETB 6 000, the cooperative developed a hand-dug water pump to enhance irrigation capacity to facilitate the expanding of their farm in the coming years. Additionally, the cooperative paid for a tractor service to prepare the farmland for the following season, which is now growing maize and forage crops.

Mohamed Sheik Mohamed, the head of the cooperative said, “We share the income earned equally. Initially the members were very poor, but now they are able to meet their household food needs and even have savings.” The cooperative is becoming more self-sustainable. Mr Mohamed continued, “This season we used seeds saved from the previous year’s production to plant our fields.”

Another cooperative, Eles, is located in Halago Community and was established by 30 members. Cooperative members started crop and forage production on 10 hectares of land using irrigation. The cooperative was able to produce maize, haricot beans and vegetables. From the sale of the produce, members shared ETB 600 of the income earned among themselves to cover household food needs, and put aside ETB 40 000 to save in their cooperative’s account. Once their savings have significantly grown, the cooperative will share profits among members.

Animal feed production “Production of Sudan and Elephant grass was newly

introduced to the communities. Many farmers were initially against the idea of growing animal feed, believing that animal feed grows naturally, and cannot be grown like a food crop,” said Hamdi Mohamed Mulid, Hodan Cooperative Chairperson. “Some cooperative members even advised us to plant maize instead of forage. But since we received the training from FAO on the use and benefits of forage production, we planted the grasses, and benefited well for our animals.”

To improve income generation and ensure continuous seed supply, the cooperative harvested nearly 10 quintals of Sudan grass seeds. The cooperative plans to expand forage production using the seeds, and expects to sell the remaining amount for ETB 250 per kilogram.

The cooperative also supported non-member local farmers with livestock feed when the delay of the spring rains earlier this year reduced pasture availability. The cooperative plans to expand forage production and simultaneously start livestock fattening.

Elephant grass is very quick to regenerate after harvest, said farmer Abdi Adem, “Since we started feeding the grass to our animals, their body condition and milk production have improved.”

8 FAO Ethiopia

Fodder production

In areas where the drought caused moisture stress, forage production enabled the communities to sustain their animals, said Ahmed Mohamed, FAO’s Somali Region Field Office Coordinator, “And it also improved the productivity level of the animals. Hodan cooperative plans to expand forage development to start animal fattening.

Passing on skills and practices The cooperatives’ success inspired other

non-cooperative community members that are dependent on livestock to engage in crop and forage production. The cooperative shared seeds saved from the previous year with these farmers to help them start forage production. “We shared the skills and crop seeds with our neighbours,” said Hamdi Mohamed Mulid, the chairperson of Hodan cooperative. “These famers have the aspiration to form a cooperative, inspired by our success.”

The goal of Hodan cooperative is to buy a tractor which is essential to expand their farm and increase production and income.

FAO’s Representative in Ethiopia, Amadou Allahoury, commended the success of ASTF’s project in Somali Region: “FAO supported cooperative members to produce enough food for their families and were even able to sell and make an income. The project participants, once entirely dependent on fragile pastoralist livelihood systems, have now been fully enabled to become agro pastoralists. They are now able to improve their resilience to cope with drought and other shocks.” He went on to encourage the scaling up of such initiatives, and that the project contributes well to the goal of Zero Hunger in the region.

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Fruit production and inter-cropping

Maize crop production

Poultry Production Cooperative Poultry production requires small space and less expensive

running costs which is more relevant for resource-poor communities to manage but provided high-protein nutritious food and income in a shorter period of time, said Mohamed Ahmed, FAO Somali Field Coordinator.

Poultry production was introduced to the communities with the purpose of improving household food and nutrition security and means of income generation.

ASTF project supported ten poultry cooperatives of 100 members in two woredas of Fafan and Sitti Zones in Somali Region.

Anfah poultry production cooperative was set up in Fafan

kebele, Gursum Zone, with 15 most vulnerable and economic poor community members. The members were given training on poultry management including preparing feed and watering, coop management and chicken care, and small business skills.

Improved mobile chicken coops were provided to the cooperative, together with 150, twelve-week old chickens.

Anfah Cooperative members presently harvest 30 eggs a day and make income of up to 120 Birr a day by selling the eggs. Since established, the cooperative managed to put aside 2 000 Birr, which they plan to expand poultry production. The cooperative also shares eggs among the members, which provides nutritious food for their family.

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Poultry production cooperative in Gursum district, Somali Region

A web-based e- monitoring system, a collaborative partnership project between the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the Government of Ethiopia to strengthen the planning, monitoring and evaluation programme of the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources has been found instrumental to improve the data management system of the agriculture sector.

The web-based monitoring system transforms the planning, monitoring and reporting practice into an improved technology-supported system for the agriculture sector, said Amadou Allahoury Diallo, FAO Representative in Ethiopia. The quality and accessibility of agriculture related information and data gathering, storage, retrieval and sharing would improve, and the accuracy and speed of data collection and sharing for monitoring and decision making would also be ensured, he added.

The experience of data collection from lower level hierarchies of agriculture offices upward to regional and federal levels was not in a structured, coherent and systematized manner. Dependable, accountable and reliable information gathering system was not in place and

FAO initiated an implementation of a new web-based e-monitoring system for the agriculture sector The Government of Ethiopia is committed to scaling up the system nationwide

information generation and sharing were inconsistent, and difficult to retrieve and access.

The project implementation that targets to address these impediments was initially piloted in 12 weredas (districts) of four major regions selected in consultation with the regions’ Bureau of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The Government of Ethiopia, inspired by the successes of the pilot project, and with the financial and technical support from FAO has expanded the web-based e-monitoring system phase by phase to seventy-five woredas in the major regions including Oromia, Amhara, SNNP and Tigray Regional States in 2015. The plan is to cover all regions and weredas within the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II) period, a national development plan that coves a period of 2016 – 2020.

When fully implemented in the entire regions, the web-based e-monitoring system will transform the country’s data management system for planning, achievement recording, generating reports, storage, analysis and sharing. This strengthens systematic data sharing from the prescribed sources using up-to-date technologies information and the vertical and horizontal linkages among the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Regional Bureaus of Agriculture and Natural Resources and other relevant institutions. It further strengthens the role and functions of the

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Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources in agriculture data management system and support regions to help them to improve the quality of the data generation, storage and sharing system.

The Web-based e-Monitoring system covers five major agriculture sector programmes including agriculture development, livestock development, natural resources management, disaster risk management and food security, and cross programme issues. Specifically, the system captures annual target plan and report including quarterly and monthly, location-specific progress reports, time growth trend analytical reports, plan revision and achievement recording and verification.

The software design and development was completed by Safal IT Solutions, an Indian Company. The well-functioning of the web-based software was tested by local IT experts for online, timely generating of reports by entering agricultural data from its source at the lowest government administration structure. Relevant government staffs at the Ministry of Agriculture and regional

bureaus were given training on how to operate the software and manage the system. In turn, the trainers at the region trained more than 300 experts at the zone and wereda levels. Safal IT Solutions transferred knowledge in relation to the developed agriculture web-based e-monitoring system.

The introduction of web-based e-monitoring system for agricultural data management, ensured acquisition of accurate and quality data from defined sources at wereda, zone and regional levels, and improved data processing, storage, analysis, and the generation of quality of reports in a systematized way using information technologies, said Shawel Moreda, FAO Programme and Project Planning Specialist for capacity development and web-based e-monitoring system project. He added, the government is committed to expanding the system nationwide and have accepted the system’s functionality and already designed an expansion strategy which commenced in 2015.

Sustainable Development Goals Food and Agriculture in the 2030 Agenda for

Sustainable Development

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are new global objectives that succeeded the Millennium Development Goals on 1 January 2016. The SDGs will shape national development

plans over the next 15 years. From ending poverty and hunger to responding to climate change

and sustaining our natural resources, food and agriculture lies at the heart of the 2030 Agenda.

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Changes in the Omo ValleyBuilding the resilience of smallholder famers through small-scale irrigation and fishery

why the projectImproved Agricultural Solutions (IAS), initiated and funded by DFID, is supported by FAO

with the coordination of overall implementation process, technical backstopping, guidance and facilitations. VSF Germany implemented IAS project in Dasenech Wereda, South Omo Zone, SNNP Regional State. The wereda shares border with Kenya in South West and is inhabited by about 63,000 people of eight different clans.

Dasenech are generally very traditional communities, and make a living from small scale farming and animal husbandry. Despite the availability of cultivable land, there is low productivity of crop cultivation due to low precipitation, erratic nature and unreliability of rainfall. Livestock serves as a main source of food and income, wealth accumulation, and social prestige.

However, recurrent droughts, pasture shortage, prevalence of livestock diseases, and other challenges have made life difficult for the communities. Moreover, a lack of working capital has limited their ability to involve in optional means of livelihoods. Floods, soil erosion and inter-communal conflict over limited natural resources (water and pasture) are not far from these communities.

During drought, Dasenech women and girls are the most affected as the responsibility to care for children, elderly and heads of cattle falls on their shoulders. To make it worse, women have limited control over productive assets or resources and less access to services. Since several years ago, all these interwoven problems have exposed the Dasenech pastoral and agro pastoral communities to chronic food shortage, meagre income, deteriorated health conditions and dire living conditions.

priority for DasenechTo help address these multifaceted

challenges, FAO and partners put in place a project that focuses on building the resilience of the communities by improving crop production through improved technologies, and strengthening livelihood diversifications. The smallholder farmers participated in their priority activities, including improved farming practices through small-scale irrigation and fishery. Women-headed families are the focus of the project, whereby they have access to activities that help generate income

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and ensure their food security. what has improved Lives of the beneficiary communities have improved

as their income options have brought good returns. Community members’ wrong misconception about fishery has changed and those involved in the fishery have benefitted as income and family diet. Irrigation facilities through the use of windmills and water pumps have benefitted the communities to boost their food production, and introduction of grain mills relieved women and girls of domestic burden. Additionally, school enrolment rate has increased as communities’ incomes have improved.

Irrigation and farming practice

Omo River Valley bank is blessed with favourable soils for irrigation and agriculture. However, Dasenech and other communities used to practice ineffective traditional farming practice to grow crops.

Based on need and interest, 112 semi-pastoral community members including 22 women were identified with the help of wereda Pastoral Development Office and given capacity building training on improved irrigation agricultural practice. The irrigation facility is windmill powered water pumps. Twenty-two wind mills were renovated to be functional and community members and local level government technical staff were provided training on minor maintenance of the windmills and tools to do the maintenance. Five diesel powered water pumps provide backup during possible failure and maintenance of the windmills. Once suitable irrigation plots of land were identified and prepared, fruit, vegetable, forage and grain seeds and seedlings were provided for the farming communities to plant. Tekabel Achaka, 53 lives in Sirmrate village. He used to rely on a few livestock only as a means of living. Since he participated in the project 11 months before, he has started using water from Omo River through windmill-powered irrigation facility and growing crops for own consumption and local market.

small-scale fishery

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Omo River and Turkana Lake provide great potential for fishing. However, because of the misconception that fishing is the job of the poorest people who cannot afford livestock, and lack of proper skill and tools for fishing, the potential was untapped to serve the local communities. With the aim of promoting small-scale fishery as a means of livelihood diversification, 50 households (formed into 10 fishery groups) were given training to improve their fishing practice, and fishing tools including wooden fishing boats each with 52 tilapia fishing nets. The members were equipped with the skills of fishing net maintenance and repairing, fish slaughtering, hygiene and business skill.

Fishing created an alternative means of livelihood, generated additional income and improved family food consumption. The community members sell their fish to primary buyers, who add values on tilapia fish and sell in small towns in Kenya. Most of the fishermen supported by the project were able to build new livestock assets, pay for healthcare, and buy food, school stationery and other needs of their families. Yerbur Lokuaruk, a project participant and a father of six managed to make ETB 7 416 within five months of the project inception. With the money he bought food and clothes for his family and additional fishing nets.

the case of Tobos LokureTobos Lokure, 38 was relying on small

farming of sorghum and looking after few animals. Tobos couldn’t produce enough for his family because of the impact of drought on livestock and crop production. He participated in the project and was given training and some inputs for fishing from

Lake Turkana. “Just five months after I started fishing, I made good money and was able to buy four goats for breeding, enough food for my family and school stationery for my four children,” says Tobos. Tobos sells his catches to primary sellers in Kenya. He has a dream to boost his catches so as to sell by himself to the consumers which can bring him 2-3 times more than what he earns now. Tobos says, “I use a wooden boat and six fishing nets. I catch 40 – 50 fish a day. However, I have a plan to buy a motorized fishing boat like Kenyan Turkanas to catch more fish and sell to the consumers myself. As this will bring me more income, I will start a small shopping business in my village.”

women economic empowerment Access to rural credit facilities has proven economic benefit for rural women. However,

Dasenech women were not able to benefit from this kind of opportunities due to poor access to credit services. Additionally they are culturally disadvantaged as they do not have equal access and control over household assets. To improve the income of poor women households, 42 existing and 90 newly-established Income Generating Activity (IGA) groups were supported with basic business skill training and provision of initial capital.

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A training on fishing net making for local communities in

Dasenech.

SUCCESS OF FRUIT NURSERIES

Strengthening highland fruit production among smallholder farmers

the projectStrengthening fruit and cactus pearl

production project was initiated to promote cactus pearl and temperate fruits, such as plum, apple, apricot and almond in Tigray and Amhara Regions. Farmers in these areas benefitted from awareness education and economic benefits of this food security improvement project through diversification of horticulture crops and conducive market opportunities.

In view of this, essential trainings were given for nurserymen and technicians, farmers and agricultural extension workers on fruit nursery management and fruit tree multiplication practices. This was complemented by learning visits to similar good practices for farmers and agricultural extension workers.

To ensure the sustainability of the highland fruits production, potential private nursery owners were identified and trained on effective management of fruit nurseries. These owners were able to prepare business plans to identify nursery profitability and its transformation to a complete commercial activity.

The project also supported and strengthened the market linkages and enhanced access to basic services and facilities to improve value chain performance.

Aleje fruit nursery This nursery was managed by the Tigray

Region’s horticulture department, and later on maintained and improved to serve FAO-

supported nursery project aimed to grow and distribute highland fruit seedlings to the local farmers.

At the initial stage of the nursery project, there were no any mother trees and seedlings. Hence, the nursery formally started by planting different species of temperate fruit trees. To accelerate the activities in the nursery, the required skill training, nursery tools and motorized water

pump were given to 40 model farmers drawn from four woredas (districts). Generally the training was focused on how to establish and manage private fruit nurseries, use suitable planting methods and irrigation practices, prune roots and fruits, and remove unnecessary leaves. Nursery staff, district level government experts and additional 437 farmers also received training on highland fruit production.

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Priest Habte Yiheyis in his orchard

The nursery was given a total of 20,844 root stocks of temperate fruits from Italy through the project, and so far 24,160 grafted seedlings have been distributed to local farmers from the nursery.

The case of Priest Habte Yiheyis Priest Habte and nine other farmers

participated in the training on highland fruit management. He was given 14 fruit seedlings of apricot, plum, almond and apple. Using the skills he learned from the training and exposure visits to similar projects, he planted and managed the fruit seeding on his plot of land. Since he has started harvesting the temperate fruits, he generates Birr 7,500 per year that enabled him to cover all necessary expenses such as school stationery and uniform for his children, health care and other needs of his family.

As a pioneer, Habte passed on the knowledge and the skills he learnt on temperate fruit management and handling to a group of 35 local farmers. The local level agricultural bureau uses Habte’s orchard as a demonstration site for training and experience sharing for farmers from other districts in Tigray Region. Habte, as a successful farmer, honored and respected by his community, he serves as a resource person for any advice that his community members need on highland fruit management.

Threshing machine reduces post harvest lossesAgro pastoralists in Gewane district of

Afar Region grow food crops and vegetables along the Awash River that provides water for irrigation. With the support of FAO, the agro pastoralists were given improved maize seeds and vegetables through “Crop Diversification Project”. As the area is also a potential for rice production, a pilot project was carried out by model, smallholder growers as a small-scale rice production.

In Gewane district alone, nearly 2 800 hectares of land is used to grow maize by the smallholder agro pastoralists. And up to 150 quintals of maize is produced every year by individual farmers. However, post harvest loss was a challenge as they were using traditional threshing methods, including using hands and

hitting with stick in a sack. This led to tedious working condition and up to 30 percent loss of the produce.

To tackle the challenge, FAO introduced a maize threshing machine and Rice polisher in 2014. The agro pastoralists were trained how to operate and use the machine. Presently the machine serves nearly 360 households in three kebeles on rotation.

The machine has been found useful in reducing the post harvest losses, said Tamrat Alemu, Crop Production Expert at Awash Fentale Zone Bureau of Agriculture and Natural Resources. He added, the quality of the production has improved and increased the food security and income of the communities as well.

17 FAO EthiopiaCrop threshing machine in action

Public-private partnership ensures self-employment for resource-poor rural young people

The Government of Ethiopia recognizes that youth employment is a necessary condition for achieving sustainable growth and poverty reduction. In 2016 and beyond, the government’s top policy priority is to create and improve employment for the young people. For rural youth, improved employment implies better income either from farming (including livestock) through adoption of better farm practices or from non-farm income opportunities. One of these opportunities is creating or improving increased access to credit by strengthening rural financial institutions and access to entrepreneurial know-how and skills.

The project “rural poverty reduction through job creation in small ruminant value chains in Ethiopian highlands” has piloted an integrated model for rural youth employment creation in Amhara and Tigray Regions in collaboration with private partners, financial institutions, and youth and women associations and public sectors such as regional bureaus and authorities.

At the initial stage, key stakeholders at different levels from the public and private sectors participated in a sensitization workshop that aimed to create understanding of their roles and implementation modalities of a joint cooperation. Through the support of the project, training-of-trainer approach reached out to government, public and private sector, and member of the beneficiary communities.

The training focused on small ruminant

fattening, which is the major project component and self-help group development and marketing. These trainings workshops built the necessary skill of the participants on the concept of ram selection for sheep breeding, construction of shelter from the available local material, small ruminant feed

preparation and feeding, self-help group formation, and business development and marketing. Up on the completion of the awareness raising training, all of the project participant young people developed business plans to run a business of small ruminant fattening.

18 FAO Ethiopia

Young Kibrom looks after his sheep-fattening business

The young people were enrolled in their local institution, Rural Saving and Credit Cooperatives (RuSACCOs). The cooperatives received training on agricultural financial management and investment capital of half a million Birr each to strengthen their management capacity and loan-service delivery for their members. Each RuSACCO then provided credit on a revolving fund basis for the poorest and most vulnerable youth and women beneficiaries selected by their respective village committees. Enrolment of the young people in the local RuSACCOs also strengthened the institutions as they mobilized savings from the project beneficiaries.

The case of young KibromFrom broken dreams to entrepreneurIncreasing landlessness amongst the rural

youth has been an important push factor for irregular migration to the Middle East. Young Kibrom, age 24 was amongst the many. Kibrom left his village three years ago and headed to Saudi Arabia in search of employment and better life. He took a dangerous journey, with the hope to return with some money to start a small business in his home place, in Tigray Region.

But after labouring for a year as a shepherd, his dream was crashed when Saudi Arabia cracked down on irregular migrants. He was among the many Ethiopians that were deported back to Ethiopia. “It was a traumatising experience, as I had to leave all my belongings behind,” Kibrom said.

For Kibrom, coming back to his village empty-handed was embarrassing. “Back here home, the situation was very depressing in an impoverished community with very limited

livelihoods opportunities. I didn’t have any resource to make things to turn around for me,” Kibrom said.

However, when he was selected as one of the beneficiaries of the project that supports young people with limited or no resources to engage in a business of small ruminant fattening. After he was given relevant training on business skill and small ruminant management, he was enrolled in his local RuSACCO, supported by the project. He was given loan of 10 000 Birr with which he bought 10 sheep for fattening and income generation. He made a profit of 1 000 Birr

from selling the sheep. For the second round, he bought 10 sheep which he sold for the Ethiopian Easter celebration when the price of sheep normally goes up. To increase his income base, he also keeps some chickens side by side with his sheep fattening business.

“I am excited because my dream of having my own means of income has become a reality. I am doing my own profitable small ruminant business which I can transform into something bigger,” Kibrom said.

19 FAO Ethiopia

As climate change evolves, the way food is produced must adapt too.

FAO celebrates World Food Day each year on 16 October to commemorate the founding of the Organization in 1945. Events are organized in over 150 countries, making it one of the most celebrated days of the UN calendar. These events promote worldwide awareness and action

World Food Day 2016Climate is changing. Food and Agriculture must too.

for those who suffer from hunger, and for the need to ensure food security and nutritious diets for all. This year’s WFD slogan, “Climate is changing. Food and Agriculture must too,” highlights how food and agriculture need to adapt to climate change in order to feed a growing global population in a sustainable way.

No other sector is more sensitive to climate change than agriculture. The world’s most vulnerable people produce most of the planet’s food: family farmers, pastoralists, fisher folk and community foresters. They contribute little to greenhouse gases (GHGs) and yet they are the first to suffer from natural and manmade disasters, which are exacerbated by climate change and increasing in frequency and intensity.

Climate change is also an integral part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the set of 17 global goals that countries have adopted to end poverty and hunger, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all.

FAO is calling on countries to address food and agriculture in their climate action plans and invest more in rural development. By strengthening the resilience of smallholder farmers, we can guarantee food security for the planet’s increasingly hungry global population also reduce emissions.

World Food Day 2016 marks the 71st anniversary of the Organization’s founding, and the 36th observance of World Food Day.

http://www.fao.org/world-food-day/2016/home/en/

FAO Ethiopia20

Innovative Agricultural Solutions

Building the resilience of smallholder farmers through climate smart agricultural practices

Millions of Ethiopian farmers rely on smallholder and largely subsistent farming. The pastoral and agro pastoral livelihoods system also accounts for significant proportion in lowland areas. Building the capacity of these farmers through improved farming skills and technology contributes to their food security. With the financial support from the DFID and FAO technical support, Food for the Hungry International (FHI) implemented a “Smallholder Agriculture Resilience Enhancement Project” that was aimed to increase the contribution of smallholder agriculture sector to local food security and economic growth in moisture deficit special woreda of Halaba in Southern Ethiopia.

Target beneficiary communities were involved in activities that improve the accessibility, utilization and management of water resources by harvesting and properly utilizing the available water for agricultural production. Additionally, the farmers put into actions climate smart and risk mitigating agricultural practices that contributed to increased crop yield and improved income and livelihoods.

Nuriye Dolebo, age 58 and a father of seven was among the 3 000 households that participated in the project. He was selected a project beneficiary as his livelihood was at a risk of breakdown, and unable to feed his family because of meagre income from

subsistent farming. He used to supplement his income by taking a casual laborer job, struggling to keep his family together. His community has been affected by the impacts of droughts and erratic rain.

Nuriye received training on climate smart agricultural practice, livestock management and animal health care, forage development, saving and risk mitigation, pre-harvest and post-harvest crop management and compost preparation. On his farmland of 1.5 hectares, he practiced various water management activities including small rain water catchments on farm to ensure long-term soil moisture. The shallow water ponds he developed enabled him grow food for his family and make income, as well as build new assets.

Nuriye said, “I produced vegetables during dry season using irrigation from my water pond. In addition to using vegetable for own consumption, I sold the surplus for 850 Birr. I bought food for my family and purchased a goat for 400 Birr for breeding.”

Using the skills he learnt from the training, he has started making compost from farm leftovers, which he applies on his crop farm, and plants drought-resistant crops and agro-forestry trees such as coffee, sasibania, waniza and enset (false banana) to create conducive micro- environment.

Nuriye plans to expand his livestock asset and vegetable production and continue saving with the local micro-finance institute following the risk mitigation training he received from the project.

21 FAO Ethiopia

Technical supports to Ethiopia’s AGP enhance sustainable forage development and IPM promotion FAO committed to enhancing organizational and human technical capacities

The technical support to the Agricultural Growth Programme (AGP) has strengthened the organizational and human technical capacities of the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources (MoANRs) at different levels on livestock and crop production through provision of technical support to forage development and integrated pest management (IPM) practices.

The project was officially launched in March 2013 and has aimed at ensuring more effective, inclusive and country-owned livestock development and IPM promotion through strengthened national capacities of the MoANRs in a sustainable and intensified livestock production and implementation of IPM programme focusing on 10 pilot woredas for forage and livestock production and 14 pilot woredas for crop production through integrated pest management practices.

The implementing institutions received capacity building training at different levels. Experts in the area of crop and livestock production, and development agents who work on the frontline with the communities have been trained in forage development and IPM. The training was cascaded down to over 4 400 and 2 300 beneficiary farmers on forage development and IPM programs respectively.

Forage development for livestock Smallholder farmers and forage development professionals were

given practical training in the demonstration sites established in farmer training centres (FTCs) and on farmers’ plots with the support of the project. The training comprised of forage development strategies including multiplication of grass and legume forage species, backyard forage development practices, intercropping and strip cropping of forage legume species. Individual farmers and

Farmer field school in Yaya Gulele Wereda, where IPM practice is learnt by farmers on

how to control Faba Bean leaf disease.

22 FAO Ethiopia

Common Interest Group (CIG) farmers also received training aiming at promoting forage development activities and integrated forage tree species in 25 selected watersheds for the purpose of increasing biomass and reducing soil erosion by increasing vegetation cover and feed availability for livestock feeding using cut and carry system.

Sixty-eight FTCs have been identified and established for forage seed multiplication and demonstration activities. Forage seeds, including grass and legume species were purchased and distributed to the weredas for demonstrations at CIGs and selected FTCs. Seed multiplication activities are also being carried out on 180 hectares of land owned by common interest farmer groups. Forage tree seedling propagation was also promoted with CIG, FTCs and nurseries.

As a result of seed multiplication activities in selected FTCs and farmers’ plots, a total of 107 quintals of seeds of various forage species has been produced, which enabled the pilot woredas to be self-sufficient in forage seed supply for enhancing forage and forage seed multiplication to new areas.

Forage seed producers in selected woredas have been connected to seed companies on a contract arrangement to ensure market for quality seed produced. This had been effectively complemented with training and close follow up by concerted effort of relevant stakeholders.

Forage development has been integrated with watersheds improvement program by planting selected forage species in selected watersheds. This has increased vegetation cover and consequently reduced soil

erosion and enhanced fodder availability for livestock. Over 5.6 million forage seedlings were produced and planted on 556 hectares of land in selected watersheds during the second year of teh project.

Two comprehensive training manuals to support future training in forage development and livestock feeding guidelines were developed. Policy and strategy development support was given to the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries (MoLF) through developing studies related to forage production and livestock extension.

Integrated pest management An assessment was conducted in the pilot

woredas to identify insect pests, weeds and pathogens causing economic damage on the major crops grown in the areas. This report indicated that eight major crops and nine major economic pests were identified for IPM interventions.

IPM program is being promoted using a farmers’ field school (FFS) approach. Volunteer and common interest group (CIG)

farmers, who are committed to working together and sharing experiences to other farmers, have been organized into 55 IPM-FFS groups and were given training on IPM principles and local options to reduce the impact of major pests on field crops. The groups have been actively working on eight major crop-pest combinations, and have achieved successes in promoting and practising IPM.

FAO has been supporting crop intensification and diversification enhancement initiatives including technical backstopping in pest management, the latest such support was in developing national pest management support service for Ethiopia, which was published and given to the MoANRs.

FAO also supports plant protection institutions in cross border and local pest surveillance of and exchange information globally and with neighbouring countries.

Animal fodder production at farmers’ plots in Yaya Gulele wereda. 23 FAO Ethiopia

Water catchments, a lifeline for Afar pastoralists

Investments in water catchments so whenever there is water they can catch it

Water and pasture determine the livelihood base of pastoralists who rely on their animals for a living. In a region where more than 90 percent of the population earns a living from livestock, water and pasture are crucial for survival. FAO supported the construction of water ponds in dry areas of Afar Region. Gewane water pond was constructed three years ago to serve Afar and the neighboring Somali communities.

Gewane area is relatively better in pasture, but water was the main problem for animals, said Herrie Hamedu, FAO Afar Field Office Coordinator. The pond serves over

Thousands of animals drink from the water ponds constructed in Gewane district with the

support of FAO.

24 FAO Ethiopia

100 000 animals for nine months once the rain fills. It was particularly crucial to save hundreds of thousands animals during the recent droughts. Water ponds for animals also help environmental rehabilitation and regeneration of shrubs and plants that serve as animal feed.

Herrie said, “Life cannot sustain without water in this dry area, and this pond is a lifeline for the communities and their animals. We have a plan to renovate and expand this pond to serve more livestock.”

Traditional steam water harvest structure in Elidaar.

Steam water harvest structure constructed with

the support of FAO in Elidaar.

25 FAO Ethiopia

Steam water harvest Traditional steam water harvests have been used by the

communities in Elidaar District of Afar Region for ages. Water is harvested through underground facility that is made into closed water well, that lets steam coming from deep underground to cool and condense. By tradition, water is accessed from the underground well through plastic tubes.

FAO built on this local knowledge and upgraded eight water facilities into hand-pump steam water collection points in Elidaar. The structure also comprises a water trough that serves animals too.

Our district is one of the most vulnerable areas to recurrent droughts, said Abdela Sule, Elidaar Wereda Administrator. FAO supported us to improve traditional steam water harvests, which provide water throughout the year including during drought situations, he added.

Ethiopian PFSs share experience to the Sahelian countries

“The main objective of PFS is to improve the knowledge (what people know), support skills (how do people do things) and change some behaviours (why do people believe) to the productivity.

A study tour was organized for livestock experts from four Sahelian countries to a Pastoral Field Schools (PFS) project in Ethiopia. The participants from Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad and Mali visited the project to find the relevance of PFS approach for the Sahel Region and to strengthen the capacity of the government structures in charge of livestock, NGOs and farmers organizations involved in the dissemination of techniques and best practices for agro-pastoralists in order to adapt climate change context and risk management into their respective countries.

The team visited three PFSs supported by FAO in the Miyo district of Borana Zone, in Southern Ethiopia. Each PFS shared its experience on how it was settled down and the rules applicable, including working groups, contributions, membership conditions and overall group dynamics.

The PFSs are engaged in cattle fattening for income generation, management and protection of pastures and rangelands, community-based saving and loan services and crops production in the case of agro-pastoralists.

The visiting mission recognized that PFS approach is a very useful livestock extension tool for pastoral organizations and easily implementable in the Sahel countries. PFS is also a platform that facilitates community forums on issues like improving child nutrition, health, and sanitation.

After the visit, the mission strongly recommended the Sahel countries to

develop livestock extension system based on the PFS and to initiate pilot PFS approach. Additionally, the mission recommended FAO to harmonize the PFS by defining a minimum guideline for the implementation of PFS such as through an e-forum, and encourage the visitors’ governments for the implementation of PFS approach as livestock extension tool. The Ethiopian Government was recommended to implement a continuous recycling training for community facilitators, strengthen learners for easy identification (ownership of problems and solutions to consider) and improve the water drainage systems at the level of pastoral water points (drill with solar submersible pump, pumping with animal traction, and construction of

concrete curbs). Through its regional initiative of “Building

resilience in drylands of Africa”, FAO supports countries and herders to implement policies, strategies and programs to strengthen the resilience of pastoralists and agro-pastoralists. Within this context, the “Pastoral

Field Schools Approach” was identified as contributing to support pastoral communities in the dry areas of Ethiopia, whereby groups of people learn through observation and experimentation in their own context, based on methods of adult

learning. The approach can contribute to develop crop and animal production, animal health, management of natural resources, saving and loan services, social relations and other community development programs.

26 FAO Ethiopia

Resilience-building projects for pastoral communities

Ethiopia’s Afar Region is a typical arid and semi-arid climate, with low and erratic rainfall. While the temperature generally varies throughout the year, it ranges from 20 – 40 degree celsius. Ninety percent of the people rely on livestock production for their livelihoods and the remaining population are agro-pastoral communities who do small scale farming.

However, the fragile ecology coupled with increased natural resources degradation and climate variability has exposed the majority of the pastoral communities to the risks of climate related disasters mainly recurrent drought conditions.

With the support of FAO, the government has put in place policies, strategies as well as action programs that help to build the resilience of the communities through climate change adaptation measures including livelihood diversification and asset protection schemes.

Animal feed producers cooperativeAfar pastoralists look after over 10 million goats, cattle, sheep and

camels. A drought affects the Afar Region every 2 – 5 years, stressing the livelihoods base of the communities, including pasture and water availability for livestock. Many pastoralists lost their livestock

because of the shortage of feed and water in the previous years. And many households are vulnerable to drought impacts and at risk of livelihoods breakdown.

Taking into consideration the increasing shortage of pasture, and the need to diversify the livelihoods of the most vulnerable communities, FAO supported Afar communities to create an alternative means of income from the huge market demand of livestock feed in Afar and other drought-prone neighbouring regions.

Most vulnerable and poorest households were selected through the participation of the local level government administration and community members to form cooperatives in three districts, namely Awash Fentale, Chefera and Asaiyta. With the support of FAO, the cooperatives were given skill training on how to make multi-nutrient blocks (MNB), which is a nutrition rich animals feed with a content of the by-products of sugar, flour and cooking oil factories. The wereda level Government Cooperative Development Bureau provided cooperative management training and follow

27 FAO Ethiopia

Some members of Eneb animal feed producers with

some MNB products.

up support packages. MNB production machine was provided to the cooperative with the accessories and production inputs as well as market promotion supports for the products.

Eneb Animal Feed Producers Cooperative was established in Awash Fentale District, where over 90 percent of the population rely on animals for a living. This cooperative in Dudum locality comprises 17 members. Most of the members lost their animals because of the previous droughts and were economically poor. The members were given support to establish their cooperative and training on cooperative management. The management team consists of five members of management team, who oversee the cooperative activities, finance and administration. After cooperative members received training and production tools and inputs, they started producing MNBs seven years ago.

The cooperative has produced more than 252 475 MNBs and sold to its clients in Afar, Somali, Oromiya and Tigray Regions. The cooperative capital has grown to 2 million Birr. The MNBs have been useful to save the core breeding animals in drought affected areas of these regions during the El Nino induced drought in recent years. A cow or five goats can feed on one MNB for 15 days.

“The cooperative benefitted the communities in various ways,” says Abdulamin Oumer, Cooperative Establishment Expert at Awash Fentale Agriculture Bureau. Members have an employment opportunity and rely on regular income (salary and dividend) from the profit of their works. He wnet on, most importantly,

we were successful in changing the attitude of pastoral communities to believe that they can work in cooperative and earn a living instead of relying on livestock herding alone.

The cooperative pays a monthly salary of 1 000 Birr and a dividend of up to 25 000 Birr for each member. Many members have transformed their houses from traditional “tukul” to corrugated irons, and some members have started small businesses side by side. Some members have also built livestock assets, and were able to withstand the impacts of the recent droughts.

Ibrahim Mohamed Ture, 28 and a member of the cooperative, is married with two women and has 4 children. Ibrahim said, “I was relying on goats and cattle for a living. I lost most of my cattle and goats due to droughts.” Since Ibrahim joined the cooperative, he has been relying on the income from the cooperative to care for his family. In addition to covering the need of his family, he transformed his house. “It is after I became a member of the cooperative

that I started making dependable income.” Demand for MNB is growing steadily from

year to year. And it peaks during drought situations. As a part of the recent response to El Nino impact, over 100 000 MNBs have been produced and sold to the drought affected areas of Afar and Somali Regions. This has reduced animal death and supported recovery of animals, said Abdualamin. The cooperative capital has grown to 2 million Birr including two mid-size trucks to transport their produces and provide freight service side by side which brings them additional income. The cooperative plans to transform the production tool from the current manual to electric-powered machine to boost production and ensure quality.

Date palm project Women in Afambo district of Afar region

are busy with basketry. They make different baskets, mats, milking pots, and other local materials out of dried leaves of date palm trees and sell to the local market. They know that this isn’t the ultimate benefit they

28 FAO Ethiopia

A member of the cooperative has managed to transform his house from a traditional “tukul”

.

expect from the 310 date palm trees they are looking after. Dates sell well in their locality; the women expect to harvest and make good income.

Date palms are huge potentials for production in arid and semi-arid areas because of their tolerance to extremely adverse conditions, including drought, high temperature and salinity. Date palm is one of the agricultural diversification projects supported by FAO in Afar Region. In view of supporting smallholder agro-pastoral and farmer households to tap the potential of date palm production in the region, FAO initiated a date palm project and introduced 14 high-yielding date palm varieties in two nursery sites in Asaiyta and Afambo districts. The nurseries serve to supply date palm seedlings to expand to agro-pastoral fields, and scale up the good practice in semi-

pastoral areas. The Afambo nursery is managed by a

cooperative consisting of 50 members including 23 women. The member were given training on cooperative management and how to manage date palm trees, including irrigation, date palm production, and storage and provision of tools required to care for the trees. Experts at the region’s Pastoral Agriculture Development Bureau provide follow up and technical support for the cooperative.

“The project is meant to create access to high-energy nutritious food and income as well as employment for agro-pastoral communities, who are mainly herders and do some farming for a living,” said Mr Amadou Allahoury Diallo, FAO Representative to Ethiopia.

A quintal (nearly 100kg) of date palm fruits

is sold for 3 000 Birr locally, and a date palm tree produces 100 – 200 kilograms of fruits a year, depending on the tree’s age, growing conditions, the local climate and exposure to pollinating male trees. This will bring a huge income for the community members. Date palm trees also contribute to soil and water conservation and help reduce soil salinity and regulate temperature, said Herrie Hamedu, FAO Project Coordinator for Afar Field Office.

Date palm seedlings were imported from Israel and Britain, multiplied by tissue culture. The first round was harvested in 2015 and distributed to local communties for promtion. There is a plan to practice inter-cropping and propagating off-shoots to agro pastoralists based on research recommendations.

29 FAO Ethiopia

Date palm seedling site in Asaiyta district

FAOcommitted to improving animal health service delivery in pastoral areas

Actions to eliminate Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) have been rolled out in the major regions

FAO is implementing a progressive control program against Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) in the lowlands of Ethiopia. Under the EU-funded project “Pursuing Pastoral Resilience through improved animal health service delivery in pastoral areas of Ethiopia”, efforts aiming at building the capacity of the federal, regional state and woreda level public veterinary services are underway, while models of a public private partnership are being tested.

Peste des petits ruminants is a highly contagious viral disease affecting sheep and goats that causes global losses from USD 1.45 billion to USD 2.1 billion each year. PPR is endemic

in most of the lowlands of Ethiopia and frequent outbreaks in the highlands. A survey conducted in Siti Zone of Somali Region indicated that in areas where the disease is endemic, PPR is causing an annual mortality of about 10 percent among the young goats. The adult population is largely protected, either due to recovery from natural infection or due to vaccination. PPR has been categorized by pastoralists as the number one killer of goats and to a lesser extend sheep in the lowland pastoral areas of Ethiopia. As the animal disease reporting system in the pastoral areas is not well established, small ruminant mortality figures are not well documented.

Elimination of PPR infection as the most sustainable way

The Ethiopian Government’s Growth and Transformation Plan (GTPII) indicates that the biggest return for money is to reduce young stock mortality in goats, sheep, cattle, goats and camels. Pursuing Pastoral Resilience project expects to achieve an improved understanding of animal disease status in pastoral areas combined with improved and sustainable capacity to implement animal disease control. It ultimately leads to a reduced morbidity and mortality related to PPR among the small ruminant population owned by the pastoral communities of Afar, Amhara, Oromia, SNNP, Somali and Tigray Regional States.

“While global eradication of PPR is targeted for 2030, Ethiopia in principle has 30 FAO Ethiopia

Practical training on PPR dignosis and investigation for national level animal

health professionals.

set 2025 as a target for the elimination of PPR virus after which it will take a few years to verify its absence,” says Gijs van’t Klooster, International Animal Health Expert and the Team Leader of the Project. Elimination is the most sustainable way and that is why we go for this, he added. Elimination of the PPR from the country demonstrates that Ethiopia has a veterinary service that is capable to controlling animal diseases which in turn will contribute to the export trade.

Search, Find, and Eliminate As a strategy, Ethiopia uses several tools simultaneously to

achieve progressive, namely early detection of PPR disease with focused vaccination and where possible movement control to achieve area-wide elimination of infection. Participatory disease search (for PPR) teams have been set up at regional levels, equipped with the required material and skills to do the disease investigation, sample collection and forwarding. Branch Coordination offices are set up to oversee the focused PPR vaccination programs that target to achieve near 100 percent coverage. Mr Gijs said that it started by conducting a national level training of trainers for 22 experts from regional laboratories, branch coordination offices and NGOs on participatory techniques, including interview techniques, ranking and mapping, as well as clinical examination of small ruminants, disease investigation, and field level disease diagnosis. The trainers in turn cascaded the training down in the field to woreda level animal health staff and have now established Participatory Disease Search (PDS) Teams. The PDS teams are now conducting field investigation and have so far detected 2 foci of PPR infection.

“The training has provided an excellent opportunity to broaden participant’s understanding on a syndromic surveillance approach (clinical PPR disease recognition, epidemiology and pathology), disease investigation, sample collection and testing using rapid diagnostic test,” said Mr. Gijs. Syndromic surveillance is the collection and analysis of health data relating to a group of diseases

that present similar clinical signs in order to detect outbreaks occurring at an early stage.

PPR is an acute, contagious, and frequently fatal disease of sheep and goats, caused by a morbillivirus related to the viruses that cause cattle rinderpest (RP) and human measles. It is a major animal health constraint to small ruminant production in Ethiopia. Besides small ruminant mortality, it limits production, and impacts on local and export trade, which in turn affects the livelihoods of the pastoral communities. As women often own and herd sheep and goats, the animals have an important role in the achieving greater gender equity. Consequently PPR impacts greatly the livelihood of women and children.

The disease is characterized by fever, discharges from the eyes and mouth, erosions in the mouth, bronchopneumonia and diarrhoea. The virus is multiplied in the mucosae eye, nose and mouth and intestines and is excreted in the discharges from eyes, mouth, urine and faeces. Most infections occur through direct contact, inhalation of droplets from sneezing and coughing animals or drinking water from same trough. An infected animal either dies from dehydration within 12 days (up to 80% in a virgin population) or recovers and is immunized for life.

31 FAO Ethiopia

Community animal health workers provide substantial services for their communities

FAO Ethiopia has been supporting the Afar Regional Government for over a decade to strengthen its animal health service delivery system through promoting community based animal health services. The support included training of Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs), providing basic veterinary kits, and establishing private veterinary drug stores, developing guidelines for CAHWs operations and linking CAHWs with privately-

A CAHW provides a vaccination service against PPR and SGP diseases in Chifra Woreda of Afar Region.

owned animal drug stores. Community Animal Health Workers, who

have some basic educational background, are drawn from members of pastoral and agro-pastoral communities. They are given training on basic skills of disease diagnosis, treatment and vaccination of common livestock diseases. In addition to these services, they play crucial roles in mobilizing their communities for vaccination

campaigns, selection of vaccination sites, and transportation of vaccines and equipment.

As CAHWs live within their communities, they provide the service immediately when needed. They are a part of the local culture and have very good knowledge of animal health problems in their communities. This improved the livestock health service delivery system.

In recent years, FAO supported the training of nearly a thousand CAHWs and upgraded the knowledge and skills of about 148 CAHWs. They have been actively involved in FAO-assisted vaccination campaigns against peste des petits ruminants (PPR) and sheep and goat pox (SGP).

During the last five years, CAHWs participated in the vaccination of over 5 000 000 small ruminants against PPR and SGP, which has significantly reduced the morbidity and mortality caused by these diseases.

32 FAO Ethiopia

Millions of smallholder farmers and pastoralists require agricultural support to sustain their livelihoodsThe recent El Nino induced drought left millions of Ethiopian farmers and breeders with meagre livelihood support system. It was the worst drought that the country experienced in three decades. Those depending on farming and livestock for a living were the worst affected – either lost their animals or their crops. On the other hand, another episode of climate impacts caused floods and landslide across five regions including crop and pasture productive areas. Within its mandate, the Food and Agriculture Organization has been supporting the affected communities to cope up with the impacts. Pierre Vauthier, FAO Surge Response Team Leader speaks about the drought impact and FAO responses.

What was the impact of the recent drought like on the farmers and breeders?

The El Nino induced drought resulted in 10.2 million people to require food aid and more than 2 million small holder farmers and pastoralists require agricultural support to sustain their livelihoods by the end of 2016.

What was the focus area of FAO’s response?

The impact of the El Nino induced drought was widespread covering the six major regions of Ethiopia: Afar, Amhara, Oromia, SNNPR, Somali and Tigray. FAO covered all the six regions in terms of coordination and actual implementation of projects including seed distribution, animal health, animal feed provision and destocking activities.

Are there any achievements that you would like to highlight?

FAO, other than directly intervening in the six major regions, managed to solicit resources for the seed intervention. Within a small window, FAO in collaboration with partners particularly by using the Agricultural Task Force (ATF) platform, managed to raise about 35 million US$ for the sector. Coordinated, timely and effective

interventions are now closely monitored. What does FAO learn from the El Nino

response in Ethiopia? Quantitative and qualitative early

assessments followed by continued analyses are critical. Using up-to-date information, FAO and partners should always be ahead of the curve. Readiness and planning of “on the shelf projects” plays a critical role. In addition, a sound technical coordination and reaching out to partners has significantly helped the solicitation of resources and facilitating coordinated interventions. We must think ahead and work with farmers and pastoralists now to increase resilience for the next large flooding and drought.

What is the way forward?We are preparing contingency plan, for the

possible La Nina impact from August until the last quarter of 2016. This requires a close monitoring of the current situation and based on what has happened during the last La Nina occurrence in South Omo, Borena and Southern Somali Zones. FAO is also thinking ahead and develop a Resilience response plan to support Government and population efforts.

destocking support

seed distribution

forage production

animal feed (MNB)

33 FAO Ethiopia

The 68th UN General Assembly declared 2016 as the International Year of Pulses with the theme of “nutritious seeds for a sustainable future”. IYP 2016 aims to heighten public awareness of the nutritional benefits of pulses as part of sustainable food production aimed towards food security and nutrition. Studies have shown that pulses such as lentils, peas and chickpeas, are a vital source of plant-based proteins and amino acids for people around the globe and should be eaten as part of a healthy diet to address obesity, as well as to prevent and help manage chronic diseases such as diabetes, coronary conditions and cancer; they are also an important source of plant-based proteins for animals. FAO facilitates the implementation of the Year in collaboration with Governments, relevant organizations, non-governmental organizations and other key stakeholders.

For further information, visit IYP Website: http://www.fao.org/pulses-2016/en/

International Year of Pulses

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©FAO, 2015

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FAO Representation in EthiopiaGurd Shola, CMC Road, Addis AbabaEmail: FAO-ET@fao.orgTel. +251 - 116 - 478 888Fax. +251 - 116 478 8800P O Box. 5536Website: www.fao.org/EthiopiaTwitter: http://twitter.com/FAOEthiopia