Feed the Future Initiative

USAID, under the US Feed the Future Initiative, launched the Commercial Farm Service Program today in support of the Government of Ethiopia’s Agricultural Growth Plan (AGP).  The new two year pilot project, implemented by CNFA, will provide grants and training to rural entrepreneurs, both men and women, to help create one wholesale and six retail farm service centers (FSCs) designed to meet the operational needs of farmers.

FSCs are medium to large-scale suppliers that provide various agricultural supplies, such as fertilizers, seeds, agricultural tools and other equipment.  FSCs also provide extensive services including machinery rental, processing, veterinary consultation and marketing.  Each FSC comes equipped with a training facility where farmers can receive professional technical assistance.  FSCs also extend credit to farmers, enabling them to procure high quality inputs that lead to increased production and profits.  The FSCs will reach at least 30,000 smallholder farmers in the Oromia Region, the largest, most populous region of the country.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – The U.S. Government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ethiopia Commodities Exchange (ECX) to collaborate on increasing the quality, traceability and marketing of coffee. 

Under this agreement, USAID’s Agricultural Growth Program-Agriculture Market Development Project (AGP-AMDe) will collaborate with ECX to:

• toincrease the number of members from farmers' cooperative unions
• to improve the ability of sellers and buyers to track the origin of coffee through electronic coding and marking,
• to certify labs and coffee quality graders 
• to improve ECX warehouse efficiency.

These joint efforts will improve the integrity and marketability of the coffee trading system in Ethiopia.

New Partnership to Help Smallholder Maize Farmers Access Better Seeds, Increase Productivity:

Davos, Switzerland—The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today with Ethiopia and DuPont to boost maize harvests through increased use of hybrid maize seed, improved seed distribution, and post-harvest storage.

Maize is a significant contributor to Ethiopia’s economic and social development, providing jobs, income and food. This collaboration will help more than 30,000 smallholder maize farmers increase their productivity by up to 50 percent and help reduce post-harvest loss of maize by as much as 20 percent.

This collaboration advances agricultural development and food security goals set by the Government of Ethiopia and supported by USAID through the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, Feed the Future, which is part of the U.S. contribution to the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.

Addis Ababa - USAID launched the Pastoralist Areas Resilience Improvement and Market Expansion (PRIME) project today to respond to increasing pressures on pastoralist livelihoods. The new project will support sustainable improvements in resilience among pastoralists to allow them to withstand increasingly frequent weather and market shocks that threaten the well-being of their communities and families. At the same time, PRIME will address the reality that many households will continue to transition out of the pastoralist lifestyle and will support the development of non-pastoral livelihoods. PRIME will stimulate increased productivity and competitiveness in the livestock and livestock products markets, increase communities’ ability to adapt to a changing climate and increase food security and nutrition, improve alternative livelihood options through essential skills transfer including literacy and numeracy, basic employability skills, and entrepreneurship and technical training.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, USAID and implementing partners held a two-day National Experience Sharing Workshop from November 26 to 27, 2012, in Addis Ababa on USAID’s Strengthening Land Administration Program (ELAP). The workshop participants included high ranking officials and experts of the Land Administration and Use Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture and state land administration bureaus and agencies of the Afar, Amhara, Oromia, Somali, Tigray and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples regions.

USAID Ethiopia Deputy Mission Director Jason Fraser opened the event and State Minister of Agriculture for Natural Resources Sileshi Getahun assessed the impact of the program and lauded USAID's support through ELAP, saying:

November 17, 2012, Adama, Oromia –

On Saturday, November 17, 2012, USAID launched a new five-year project called “Livestock Market Development” in support of the Government of Ethiopia’s Agricultural Growth Plan (AGP) that will benefit farmers in the Amhara, Oromia,
Tigray, and the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples regions. Through investments in livestock markets including beef, dairy, and hides, the project is expected to improve smallholder farmer incomes and nutritional status, generate 2,600 new on and off farm jobs, and improve the livelihoods of some 200,000 households.

State Minister of Agriculture Sileshi Getahun and USAID Ethiopia Mission Director Dennis Weller presided over the launch attended by federal and regional government officials, livestock industry representatives, and implementing partners.

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