Ethiopia - Self Help Africa

our work

in ethiopia

Ethiopia overview

Despite much progress, Ethiopia remains one of Africa’s poorest nations with a third of the population living below the poverty line.

Scaling up agricultural production, improving nutrition
security, developing new enterprise and market opportunities for farmers, strengthening community-based seed production and building climate resilience, are all key areas of Self Help Africa’s work in Ethiopia.

Last year, the organisation was involved in implementing close to a dozen development projects, all of which are being undertaken in collaboration with local and/or international partners.

Full Name: Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Population: 107.5 million (World Bank, 2018)
Population Growth (Yearly): 2.46%
Capital: Addis Ababa
Area: 1,104,300 SQ KM (426,371 SQ Miles)
Major Languages: Amharic (Official)
Major Religions: Christianity, Islam, Traditional Beliefs

Ethiopia projects

Seed is a key input for improving crop production and productivity. Improving the quality of seeds used by smallholder farmers can significantly increase the yield potential of their crops and thus represents one of the most economical and efficient inputs for agricultural development.

Self Help Africa is working with seed unions across the Amhara and SNNPR regional states to build large capacity seed stores and provide other essential infrastructure and equipment. Self Help Africa provides technical support and mobilizes additional local resources from community and local government.

8,787 households

The objective of this project is tobuild resilience, and improve food and nutrition security of 15,500 households in vulnerable regions through climate-smart agriculture practices.

Climate-Smart Agriculture supports communities by improving and diversifying livelihoods; developing community-based management systems of resources such as water, farmlands, communal land and forests; and embedding location-specific climate change adaptation and mitigation into its development initiative.

15,500 households

Self Help Africa is working with Bore Bako and Ambo Farmers’ Cooperative Unions and their member cooperatives to enable smallholder farmers to become better integrated into the maize value chain.

Building on its Smallholder Support Scheme project (2015- 2018), the purpose of the project is to increase maize marketing and dietary diversity among members of the two unions and their member cooperatives. These activities will help smallholders increase the volume, quality, and thereby value of maize aggregated and sold.

13,000 households

Climate change is posing significant challenges to Ethiopian communities, affecting water and food security. The aim of this project is to improve the economic, ecological and organisational resilience of smallholder farmers through on-farm disaster risk management interventions in drought-prone areas of Boset District in the Oromia region. This is being delivered through training courses on conservation agriculture; building local seed enterprises; establishing a revolving fund for seed; and training members on cooperative management.

6,000 households

Self Help Africa is promoting community-based seed production through the development of farmer owned and managed seed producer cooperatives and unions to fill specific gaps in seed supply. Strong linkages between primary cooperatives and their local cooperative unions, provide unions with a larger and more regular supply of maize, wheat, barley and potato seed and the cooperatives with access to a wider market.

SHA will provide the cooperatives with threshing equipment to improve quality of seed and reduce workload of farmers, and will construct storage units to retain the quality of seed. By increasing the supply of improved, quality seed, this project is enabling other farmers in the area to access higher quality seed and increase their yields.

4,630 households

Ethiopia has one of the lowest levels of financial inclusion in the world, with only 22% of adults holding an account with a financial institution and just 14% able to access credit. The project aims to contribute to increased income, improved food security and reduced vulnerability in rural areas. This is being delivered by improving the governance and operational capacity of unions and RuSACCOs; and increasing the outreach of financial services into rural and marginalized areas. Improving access to financial services is a means of assisting smallholder households to diversify their income generation activities
93,783 households

This project focuses on boosting rural livelihoods and nutrition by enhancing production techniques, strengthening value chains and improving the genetics of dairy cows. The aim is to improve the income and nutrition status of smallholder farmer households from dairy production, by improving the skills, knowledge, and experience in dairy producers, local communities, and local governments. Sustainable gains for dairy producers will ensure an on-going legacy of impact with specific activities becoming self-supporting.
600 households

Ethiopia’s agricultural extension system is heavily dependent on Farmer Training Centres (FTCs) and trained Development Agents (DAs) to provide extension support to farmers. This project aims to enhance the transfer, adoption and dissemination of Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) technology and practices to target farming communities.
The project will also train Lead Farmers, further enhancing the support available to smallholders by developing a community-based extension system that complements the activities of DAs and FTCs.
968 direct, 6,600 indirect

Stories from Ethiopia

Record-Breaking Reforestation
8th August 2019
Blockchain first for Self Help Africa project
29th March 2019

Seed security and success in Ethiopia for Sisay and Kelemua
7th February 2019
Farming President’s Africa Visit
9th January 2019

Country Profile

Read the Ethiopia Profile

TO CONTACT US ABOUT OUR WORK IN ETHIOPIA:

Yeka Subcity, Kebele 14 Hs. No. 300,
Adwa Square-Adwa Bridge street,
Addis Ababa
Tel. +251 116-620659
Email: ethiopia@selfhelpafrica.org

Record-Breaking Reforestation

Award-winning TruTrade

2.2m People Reached

our work

in ethiopia

Ethiopia overview

Ethiopia projects

Scaling Community-Based Seed Production

CLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTURE

Feed The Future - Maize Value Chain Development

Building Opportunities Through Seed Enterprise Transformation (BOSET)

STRONGER TOGETHER

SCALING UP RURAL SAVINGS AND CREDIT COOPERATIVES (RUSACCOS)

DAIRY FOR DEVELOPMENT

Capacity Building of Farmer Training Centres

Stories from Ethiopia

Record-Breaking Reforestation

Blockchain first for Self Help Africa project

Seed security and success in Ethiopia for Sisay and Kelemua

Farming President’s Africa Visit

Country Profile

TO CONTACT US ABOUT OUR WORK IN ETHIOPIA:

Record-Breaking Reforestation

Award-winning TruTrade

2.2m People Reached

Via Francigena 2019