This study summarizes experiences using Renewable Energy (RE) water pumping options as irrigation by smallholder farmers in developing countries. It includes an overview of conventional technologies (petrol and diesel pumpsets),along with an inventory of RE alternatives (wind pumps, solar Photo Voltaic (PV) pumps, solar thermal pumps and biogas) and compares,...

The paper analyses the impact of the two most prominent elements of a traditional societ y in South West Ethiopia: institutionalized traditional beekeeping as main cash income source and high segregation of a society through a caste system, which marginalizes especially a certain huntergatherer group. Beside the high ecological value...

This video shows how members of Arbale Pastoral Field School in Borana Zone, Southern Ethiopia are applying knowledge gained to implementing community managed disaster risk reduction action plans for the protection of vast areas of communal grazing lands.

Many rural development initiatives attempt to improve the lives of small-scale farmers. Some succeed, some fail – but all of them can offer valuable lessons for the future. In a two-phased documentation workshop, a group of experts working in IFAD-funded projects in Ethiopia described, analysed and wrote down some of...

Agriculture is arguably the most important vehicle for realising economic development, creating employment and reducing poverty in Africa. In the Eastern and Central Africa (ECA) sub-region, agriculture accounts for about 43% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and over 60% of exports. About 70% of the population and nearly 90%...

The use of finger millet seedlings has shown very positive results in the region of Tahtai Maichew, near Aksum, Ethiopia, as has the use of alternative management practices for a number of other crops. The principles that make up a System of Crop Intensification are now spreading through the regions...

In this chapter we present our assessments of the current socioeconomic and biophysical vulnerability of the Ethiopian agricultural sector, mainly focusing on key indicators of socioeconomic vulnerability and selected food enterprises. General circulation model (GCM) projections to 2050 are used to uncover what the future holds for the agricultural sector...

The preparation of this report was initiated because of the increased need for information about the characteristics of rice production and its producers in Ethiopia for the design of effective research and development interventions. The emerging importance of rice in the country is well recognized following the approval of the...

African governments, international agencies and NGOs are calling for policies which pay more attention to young people and agriculture.  This policy brief draws on research findings by Future Agricultures and asks: What are the expectations and aspirations of young rural men and women? What are the constraints and opportunities facing...

This working paper synthesizes and analyzes the characteristics of the indigenous sheep production and breeding strategies and practices of four sheep farming communities located in pastoral (Amibara), sub-alpine sheep-barley (Menz), perennial crop-livestock (Bonga), and cereal-livestock (Horro) production systems. The paper also provides a model framework for characterizing the indigenous sheep...

En appui au bureau d’études Bourbon Madagascar, le Gret a participé à l’évaluation de la convention programme de l’ONG Inter Aide dans quatre pays (Madagascar, Ethiopie, Malawi et Sierra Leone) sur le renforcement de l’autonomie et des capacités productives des agricultures familiales en zones rurales isolées d’Afrique Subsaharienne. Le Gret...

Large-scale foreign land acquisitions - land grabs - are major and real concerns for African populations.   The consequences of land deals are highly significant for local populations and the environment. Some see economic opportunities for local communities through employment and income generated from leasing or selling land. Others see land...

The Cost of Hunger in Africa (COHA) Study is a project led by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the New Partnership of Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Planning and Coordinating Agency and supported by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP). COHA is a...

This paper uses a rich dataset from a survey undertaken by the Ethiopian Economic Association (EEA) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in 2009 in eight woredas in seven regions of Ethiopia with a sample of 1,117 households and 73 agricultural cooperatives. Using descriptive statistics and econometric analysis...

A warm welcome to Dimitra newsletter 23, which outlines the project’s most recent activities and achievements, especially the development and growing impact of the Dimitra listeners’ clubs. These successes are producing growing recognition for the Dimitra approach and a strong increase in the number of partnerships. This issue also presents...

Over the last fifty years food production per person in Africa has grown disappointingly slowly at little more than 10%. The population of Africa is growing rapidly at an average annual rate of 2.5% and is expected to almost double by 2050 to close to two billion people. Chronic hunger...

Although there are well-established concerns about climate change effects in northern Ethiopia, there is little quantitative information concerning how serious these effects are to small holder farming. Moreover, studies on farm level adaptations that farmers make to minimise the potential impacts of climate change are lacking. Both quantitative and qualitative...

  The Agricultural sector has the greatest potential for improving rural livelihood and eradicating the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP). By the end of the GTP period, the government seeks to double yields of smallholder farmers largely by scaling-up best practices, producing high value crops, expanding irrigation development and promoting natural...

The aim of the study is to assess the food security, adapting/mitigation opportunities to climate change and policy situation and draw policy recommendations. The study was conducted in some selected districts of Tigray Region, Ethiopia based on some exemplary interventions such as communities, ISD, BPA and PROLINNOVA-Ethiopia. Agriculture in tropical...

Once the scene of devastating droughts in 1984, a few visionaries in Ethiopia have used Agroecological Natural Technology Solutions and Permaculture Design principles to begin bringing areas of arid land back to productivity and ecological balance.