Improving agricultural productivity in South Ethiopian Rift valley

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The agricultural sector in Ethiopia has a long history and is the country's mainstay, with over 85 percent of the population dependent on it for a living. Agriculture makes for more than half of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) (MF, 2021). Despite its importance, the sector's production is much below its potential. The need to increase agricultural output and attain food security is more pressing in Ethiopia than anywhere else. In line with this, the Ethiopian and Belgian governments selected food security and agriculture as one of the major themes of strategic partnership (ESD, 2013). A particular challenge in increasing agricultural productivity is that it may exert ecological concerns, such as land degradation and loss of biodiversity. The ability to leverage cutting-edge agricultural technologies for the sector's expansion is one of the foremost hurdles. Low crop and livestock yields, diseases and insect pests, a lack of suitable agricultural and postharvest technology, poor soil fertility, and a lack of skills are the main causes affecting agricultural production and productivity in Ethiopia. This also includes the need for increasing academic capacity to develop targeted interventions and training. In phase 1, the P5 subproject has worked on the development of agricultural strategies and tools to improve food security from three different angles: plant production, animal production and feed conservation. Each of these three approaches have delivered promising methods to improve agricultural productivity (e.g., multi-nutrient blocks for ranging cattle, ensiling techniques, methods for soil health maintenance). The application in practice has to be monitored for mainly two reasons: their impact on the livelihood of the rural communities and the ecological impact. The proposed change process will affect mainly two important stakeholders: the rural communities that should benefit from the dissemination of techniques developed and evaluated in Phase 1, and the local academic staff that will be involved as either PhD students or local supervisors. It was agreed that equal number of female and PhD students will be selected, which will improve the gender balance at academic level, but will also facilitate the involvement of women in rural communities in the acquisition of knowledge and the concomitant responsibilities. More intensive communication with the other subprojects of the IUC-AMU will create shortcuts for progress.