Emergency time-critical seed support for the Meher season to drought affected farmers of Ethiopia
| Tags | |
|---|---|
| Countries | Ethiopia |
| Start date | 01/06/2016 |
| End date | 24/05/2017 |
| Status | Completed |
| Recipient / Target Areas | Ethiopia |
| Budget | 1 495 840 USD |
| Project Code | OSRO/ETH/608/CHA |
| Objective / Goal | The objective of the project is to protect and restore livelihoods through the provision of emergency seed interventions. |
| Beneficiaries | 318 943 |
| Activities | A total of 11 281 quintals of cereal crop seed, 2 142 quintals of legume seed 767 kg of vegetable seed and 11.29 million sweet potato cuttings were distributed across the four targeted drought affected regions of Amhara, Oromia, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region and Tigray. |
| Impact |
The overall progress of the project has been excellent, with all planned activities having taken place during the planned time-frame. The total number of individual beneficiaries (318 943) exceeded the original number anticipated (187 500) – an increase of 70.10 percent owing to the small land plot sizes in a number of the targeted regions, along with utilization of efficient planting practices, such as row planting. Furthermore, the amount of seed procured and distributed was also on target. While the plan aimed to purchase 1 437 tonnes of seed, a total of 1 342 tonnes of seed was procured, along with 11.29 million sweet potato cuttings. Feedback from the post distribution and post harvest assessments has also been positive. The vast majority of households interviewed expressed their satisfaction with the timeliness of the intervention, along with the high quality of seed supplied. Crop yields have reportedly been between average and high. |
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Challenges Some issues regarded the delay in delivery of a few seed of some varieties were experienced in Amhara and Oromia regions. This was resolved by discussion and negotiation with transport providers, suppliers and relevant partners. Furthermore, seeds of some varieties were not available in the same region. To mitigate this issue, FAO and Bureau of Agriculture substituted their requested type of seed with alternative seed varieties. For example, vegetable seeds were distributed in three woredas in Oromia Region, in place of some barley, wheat, sorghum, haricot beans and maize. This substitution was sound as vegetable seeds are usually planted during the latter months of the calendar year. Security issues also impacted the implementation in Amhara and delayed some distribution. The security situation also affected the post-distribution assessment in the same regions. Some woredas which were originally selected for participation in the post-distribution assessment could not be safely accessed due to security concerns. |