Benishangul-Gumuz Regional Food Security Program

Results achieved as of the end of the project (December 2015) include: 1)Agricultural Development: During the 5.5 years of project activities significant gains were made in crop productivity throughout the project districts. The project measured five key crops (maize sorghum sesame groundnut and haricot bean). Maize saw the highest increase in agricultural output from 12.1 quintals per hectare to 31.89 quintals per hectare (a 164.4% increase). Additionally more households accessed agricultural services and infrastructure. Of particular note is the improved access that female-headed households had which increased from 20% in 2010 to 73.9% in 2015. Improved access resulted in better agricultural practices with the percent of households using better-quality seeds more than doubled for maize (by 27% for male-headed households and by 38% for female-headed households). Socio-cultural and gender barriers that negatively affect agricultural production as well as other areas of life were addressed through community workshops which were attended by more than 8 900 (4 898 women) people. 2)Nutrition: The percentage of underweight children in the project districts at the outset of the project was alarming with more than 45% of children underweight. After five years of continuous and multi-pronged engagement the figure of underweight children declined significantly to 10%. One of the most profound changes that enabled the reduction of underweight children was the rise of households with children aged 6-36 months who received minimum dietary diversity education which increased from 20.8% in 2010 to 96.5% in 2015. To facilitate this change the project trained 172 (21 women) health workers 752 (368 women) government staff and 13 530 (9 097 women) community members on community-based nutrition and food security. 3)Disaster Risk Management: The project worked to improve the knowledge skills and capacity of the regions to recognize prepare for and prevent natural