Engaging the Private Sector to Support Smallholder Farmers

Results achieved as of March 2016 include: (1) a national seed sector strategy as well as a regulatory system to assess the quality of seeds including community based seeds have been developed; (2) approximately 5 600 model farmers and 300 government officials have received training on the basics of seed production and marketing; (3) value chain analyses and investment case assessments have been conducted to identify high-value investment opportunities and the following eight specific investment opportunities have been identified: beef milk vertically integrated poultry processing plant soybean processing facility for animal feed and consumer products tomato paste processing factory tropical juice processing factory packaging and export of fresh cut vegetables and durum wheat processing for biscuits snacks and pasta; (4) a five-year Cooperative Sector Development Strategy has been developed which focuses on comprehensive capacity building of farmer's cooperative unions and primary cooperatives which is currently supporting 34 cooperatives including four female led primary cooperatives; and (5) the project has also supported the development and rolling out of an input voucher system in the four main regions of the country to enable farmers to access agricultural inputs (seed fertilizer) through loan products with flexible terms and conditions adapted to the financial needs of rural households. These results have contributed to increasing private sector investment in smallholder agriculture and strengthening the linkages of smallholder farmers to input and output markets in targeted districts in Ethiopia.