Ethiopia, AGRA launch $5m project for smallholder farmers
The government of Ethiopia and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) have launched a $5 million project to help smallholder farmers to double production in the next five years.
According to a press release issued by AGRA and copied to ghanabusinessnews.com, the project will target over 90,000 smallholder farmers in six regional states, and it will among other things co-finance the procurement of three lime crushers to deal with high levels of acidity in soils in various states.
Targeted Regional states include Oromia, Amhara, SNNPRS, Tigray, Gambela and Benshangul Gumuz, it said.
The release indicated that the project will target four key cereal crops namely maize, teff, barley and wheat and four grain legumes namely soybeans, faba beans, lentils and chick peas. It will also rally for farmers to adopt integrated soil fertility management approaches. It seeks to ensure a 100 per cent increase in improved yields as well as a 60 per cent increase in access to fertilizers and improved seeds by the targeted 90,000 smallholder farmers, it said.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
Really it is a great break through for the global food security.
May God Bless you & your activies!
it is so encouraging to such news that would make some valuable help to these farmers who are costrained not only by technological inputs and other things…..but also and above all the lack of the basic educational requierement to search for and use important productivity inhancing and resource utilization technological inputs which are monopolized by those graduates and people with many years of practical experience……so how long does it really take to increase the per unit technological input productivity of the smllholder farmers of ethiopia and africans….while the need to accelerate the production and supply of food is so large and so fastly racing against the prevailing capacity so far realized….shouldn’t we….most of all…you….look for an alternative way of doing same thing but with much…much faster,,,,efficient and safe approach?! let God bless ur effort!
It is really great news hearing about the project to address “BOP” (Bottom of the Pyramid). In Ethiopia, working with smallholder farmers who are the BOP is the base of sustainable Agricultural growth.
God Bless the endeavor of all you love Ethiopia and its development.
let’s praise the Lord! God bless U!