Livelihood support to drought affected communities in the selected regions of Ethiopia

The plan was to provide agricultural extension packages to households to enable them to increase productivity. The extension packages consist of sorghum, maize, haricot beans, wheat, vegetable seeds and fertilizers. All seeds, excluding wheat, will be distributed to all targeted regions while wheat will be distributed in the midland wheat producing areas. Fertilizer will be distributed based on the targeted woredas rainfall regimes and experience. Vegetable seeds will be allocated to all project regions. The preliminary field survey will determine the varieties of crops that will be included in the packages, and also identify specific beneficiary woredas and agree on role of the region and woreda. The proposed fertilizer rate is based on the recommendation of the National Fertilizer Unit (NFU): 1:1 ratio that is 100 Kg of di-amonium phosphate (DAP) and 100 Kg of urea for each hectare of wheat and maize crop. This is also the approach promoted by the extension unit of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MOARD) and the Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development (BOARD) of the respective regions during the last decade.

The estimated total cost per beneficiary of the project is about 10 EUR, a relatively low ratio, given that at the end of the project each household is supposed to cover 12 months of cereal needs (and possibly produce a surplus to be marketed). The specific objective of the livestock component is to reduce the loss of livestock assets due to transboundary animal diseases through vaccination and prophylactic treatment, in order for pastoralists to recover faster from the current drought.