Category: Agriculture

Ethiopia: How Investment in Irrigation Is Paying Off for Ethiopia’s Economy

Posted by khaoula on

After rapid economic growth averaging 10%every year between 2004 and 2014, Ethiopia has emerged as an engine of development in Africa.

And there are no signs that ambitions for further growth are fading. This is clear from the government’s blueprint to achieve middle-income status – or gross national income of at least US$1006 per capita – by 2025. This would see a rapid increase in per capita income in Ethiopia, which is currently US$783, according to the World Bank.

Ethiopia’s growth has been propelled by at least two factors: the prioritisation of agriculture as a key contributor to development and the fast-paced adoption of new technologies to boost the sector.

A third of Ethiopia’s GDP is generated through agriculture, and more than 12 million households rely on small-scale farming for their livelihoods.

One of the drivers of growth in the agricultural sector has been the expansion of irrigation. The country has seen the fastest growth in irrigation of any African country. The area under irrigation increased by almost 52% between 2002 and 2014.

This was achieved by investing in the sector, and by harnessing technology to expand irrigation to farmers who traditionally relied on rainfall to water their crops. This boosted productivity and income for farmers by helping them extend the growing season and become more consistent in their production.

Meanwhile, only 6% of arable land is currently irrigated across the whole of Africa. This means that there’s huge potential to expand irrigation and unlock economic growth.

These factors are highlighted by a new report from the Malabo Montpellier Panel. The panel convenes experts in agriculture, ecology, nutrition and food security to guide policy choices by African governments. The aim is to help the continent accelerate progress towards food security and improved nutrition.

The panel’s latest report analyses progress – and highlights best practice – in irrigation in six countries. These include Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Niger and South Africa. Other African countries can draw lessons from the report’s insights.

Reasons for success

The report identified a number of common factors in countries where significant progress has been made to expand irrigation, including key policy and institutional innovations.

In the case of Ethiopia, one of the main reasons for its success is that agriculture and irrigation have been featured on the Ethiopian policy agenda since 1991. In addition, specialised institutions have been set up with clear commitments to maximise the benefits of water control and irrigation systems.

In addition, the government has invested in the sector and has plans to continue doing so. It aims to allocate US$15 billion to irrigation development by 2020.

The investment is expected to deliver a number of returns. These include: more efficient use of fertilisers, a reduction in the seasonal variability in productivity and better yields from irrigated crops grown.

Another major area of development has been the collection of data. This is an invaluable asset that allows for careful monitoring and management of resources such as water, especially in times of drought.

In 2013, Ethiopia’s Agricultural Transformation Agency began mapping more than 32,400 sq kms to identify water resources, particularly shallow groundwater, with the potential for irrigation development.

The final results of this mapping in 89 districts revealed nearly 3 billion cubic metres of water at a depth of less than 30 meters. This could allow approximately 100,000 hectares of land to be brought under irrigation, benefiting 376,000 families.

Finally, Ethiopia has harnessed the value of a full range of irrigation technologies. These have ranged small-scale interventions to large infrastructure.

A joint project between the Ethiopian Bureau of Agriculture, local extension officers, and an NGO called Farm Africa, for example, helped women and young people adopt small-scale irrigation. This was part of an initiative to increase their incomes and improve their nutrition.

Overall, the project reached nearly 6,400 women and landless people. The irrigation project also benefited 700 farming families.

NALYSIS By Gebisa Ejeta

How Can Research Support Rural Women Farmers and Entrepreneurs to Thrive in Africa?

Posted by khaoula on

Winnie is an entrepreneur from Uganda who runs a successful business making probiotic yogurt and selling to other businesses and schools. When I heard her speak at a recent food security meeting in Ottawa, Canada, I learned that Winnie has not always been this successful.

Winnie’s family had always kept cattle, but most of the milk the cows produced was for consumption by the family. In 2014, Winnie received training from an organization called Yoba for Life on how to use freeze-dried bacteria to produce probiotic yogurt from her family cows’ milk, a practice that has been common in the Netherlands where Yoba for Life is based, but not in Africa. Research conducted by Yoba for Life and Heifer International developed the technology used by Winnie for producing and using freeze-dried bacteria to make yogurt in Uganda.

Winnie started selling the yogurt to neighbors and to the local shopping center. As sales increased, her family milk was not enough, and she started purchasing milk from other women farmers in her neighborhood. Soon, she teamed up with a few other women to start the Kiboga Ikamiro Women’s Group production facility. Using the new freeze-dried bacterial technology, they currently produce 150-200 liters of yogurt per day, earning USD 3500 per month. She has increased her cattle herd to 20 milking cows, employs 27 women and youth in the production facility and built a better house for her family.

Winnie is one of more than half a million women who has been involved in research projects funded under the Canadian Food Security Research Fund, a research program implemented in 24 countries over the last nine years by Canada’s International Development Research Centre and Global Affairs Canada. This program has been hugely successful at helping women, who often provide half of the agricultural labor but do not have the same land rights and access to income as men, improve their livelihoods.

It may be surprising to learn that a program focused on research can help rural women engaged in agriculture and agribusiness to thrive. When people hear of research, they often think of complex experiments done in laboratories by serious looking scientists in white lab coats working on things only they understand. But research can have very practical implications in the lives of people.

I have been a researcher for 20 years now, and I have seen the power of research and innovation in transforming the lives of women like Winnie.

First, research can help identify and develop innovations that enable women to add value to their products and thereby increase their incomes. In Nigeria and Benin, the production of indigenous vegetables has been hampered by low consumption and lack of markets for smallholder farmers. Through several years of research, researchers found new ways and technologies for producing wine and syrups, in addition to the more traditional products such as bread, to add value to these vegetables. Women increased their incomes from indigenous vegetables by over 120 percent.

Second, research can find ways of reducing the drudgery of food production and processing for women. Of the 250 million tons of crops grown in sub-Saharan Africa in 2012, a total of 75 percent were grown by smallholder farmers and these were weeded by hand. Between 50 and 70 percent of these farmers’ time was spent on weeding, and 90 percent of women smallholder farmers carry out this task themselves. In India, processing one bag of millet can take up to two days. As a result, the consumption of millet, a crop that is highly nutritious and has the potential to contribute to better nutrition is rarely consumed in India.  Through research, scientists developed a threshing machine that reduces the time it takes to thrash a bag of millet to two or three hours. As a result, women entrepreneurs using the technology increased their income from US$1800 to US$4500 per annum, close to a three-fold increase.

Third, innovations from research can increase the nutrition and health of women. In the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh, 50 million women and 15 million children suffer from anemia. A new technology that encapsulates salt with iron and iodine has led to the local production of double fortified salt in the state. Between 2014 and 2017, 40,000 metric tonnes of double fortified salt were distributed through India’s public distribution system with 85% of the targeted households purchasing and using the salt on a regular basis. The use of double fortified salt has led to a decline in the prevalence of iron deficiency from 23 to 9 percent.

Finally, research can illuminate the financial needs of women smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs and facilitate the development of appropriate products and access to these products. In Bolivia, researchers working with the Insitucion Financiera De Desarrollo increased the understanding of the fisheries sector by the financial company, leading to dthe evelopment of financial products that suited the needs of women in the sector. Between 2015 and 2017, US$ 1.9M was loaned to women entrepreneurs in the sector with an average loan size of US$ 6000.

For research to work for women, women must be engaged as researchers, producers, business owners, consumers so that they can set their priorities and contribute to the development of innovations that best suit their needs and priorities.

Dr. Jemimah Njuki is a Senior Program Specialist at Canada’s International Development Centre where she works on gender and women’s empowerment. She is an Aspen New Voices 2017 fellow. Follow her @jemimah_njuki

Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Program Phase-1(ATASP-1)

Posted by jilles on
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Programme de Renforcement de la Résilience à l’Insécurité Alimentaire et Nutritionnelle au Sahel (P2RS) – Niger

Posted by fiona on
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