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Provision of seeds to drought affected farmers in Amhara regional state, for the 2008 mid and late Meher cropping season (funded by USA)

Tags
Countries Ethiopia
Start date 31/05/2008
End date 16/12/2009
Status Completed
Donor United States of America
Recipient / Target Areas Ethiopia
Budget 1 000 000 USD
Project Code OSRO/ETH/808/USA
Objective / Goal The main objective of the project was to contribute to the improvement of the livelihoods of 94 084 targeted drought affected households in 21 woredas of Amhara through the provision of seed.
Beneficiaries 121 235
Activities

The overall objective of the project was to improve the livelihoods of drought-affected households in Amhara region’s South Wollo, North Wollo, North Shoa and Oromiya zones, through the provision of chickpea, teff and lentil seeds.

Specifically, the project planned to assist beneficiaries by:

  • Enabling the resumption of agricultural activities. It was expected that each beneficiary would sow an average of 0.25 hectares with project seeds, and that a total of 6 062 hectares of land would be cultivated.
  • Contributing to an increase in overall crop production in the target areas by assisting beneficiaries to produce an estimated 21 439 tonnes of cereal and pulse crops, rainfall allowing.
  • Raising household food supplies and nutrition (with adequate rainfall) through increased productivity. Each farming household was expected to be able to produce about 187 kg of cereals and/or pulse crops (reduced from the interim report projection of 450 kg, owing to the harmful effects of an unexpected frost on project lentils), which would help beneficiaries obtain a steady supply of food and improve their nutritional status.
  • Reducing dependency on external food aid. It was expected that beneficiaries would be able to produce enough food to support a family of six for about 5.5 months, in conjunction with emergency food aid rations supplementing their seed reserves.
Impact
Overall, the project enabled beneficiary communities to resume normal agricultural activities, and its positive impact was confirmed during formal and informal stakeholder discussions. Beneficiaries indicated that increases in crop production had raised their household food security, reduced labour migration rates and lessened dependency on food aid.
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Lessons learned

It is recommended to consider the following lessons for future project activities:

  • Awareness-creation and inception meetings should be held before the implementation of similar projects; such activities provide clarity and give project actors and beneficiaries the opportunity to take early action.
  • Emergency seed distribution guidelines (which have been prepared in collaboration with the Agriculture Task Force to strengthen uniformity and compliance) should be distributed to all stakeholders.
  • Multiplication and distribution of frost and drought-tolerant planting materials should be carried out in the future to reduce crop failure. Diversified planting materials that are less dependent on consistent rainfall (root and tuber crops, fruit and forage trees) should also be used as an alternative to cereals and pulses.
  • Extensive stakeholder and community good agricultural practices (GAP), conservation agriculture (CA) and integrated pest management (IPM) training should continue as it improves sustainable agricultural productivity and reduces vulnerability to disasters.