Improving Livelihoods Agriculture and National Development in Ethiopia

The project aims to increase agricultural productivity for smallholder farmers (women and men) in 18 districts in the regions of Amhara Tigray and Oromia in Ethiopia. These districts have reliable rainfall and high potential for agricultural growth but are increasingly affected by land degradation and food insecurity. The project is designed to address these issues by supporting the national Sustainable Land Management Program that works with communities and local officials to develop and implement resilience-building plans. These plans focus on reducing land degradation and improving agriculture productivity through increased use of sustainable land management approaches such as rehabilitating degraded watersheds introducing high value crop varieties and building terraces and water harvesting systems. Canada’s contribution aims to benefit an estimated 252 000 women and men in these 18 districts. The sustainable land management practices being introduced include tree planting gully rehabilitation terracing cut-and-carry livestock feeding and building small-scale irrigation systems.

The expected intermediate outcome for this project is an increased use of sustainable land management practices by women and men smallholder farmers in 18 high potential areas of Ethiopia.