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

Increasing farm production, supporting new enterprise and developing market opportunities for farmers is at the core of Gorta-Self Help Africa’s work in Ethiopia.

Current projects in the country also focus on strengthening community-based seed production, improving the resilience of local agricultural communities to changing climate, and on improving productivity and livestock value chains.

In 2015 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. Four new projects are scheduled to commence this year.

Full Name: Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Population: 91.72 Million (UN Data 2012)
Capital: Addis Ababa
Area: 1,104,300 SQ KM (426,371 SQ Miles)
Major Languages: Amharic (Official)
Major Regions: Christianity, Islam, Traditional Beliefs

RURAL SAVINGS AND CREDIT COOPERATIVES
Oromia and SNNPR
Supporting the formation of rural savings and credit cooperatives which distribute small loans to farmers essential in developing on and off-farm enterprises.

BUILDING OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH SEED ENTERPRISE TRANSFORMATION
Amhara, Oromia & SNNP Regions
The BOSET project is improving access to rural finance for smallholder farmers in three low-productive and drought-prone zones of Amhara,
Oromia and SNNP regional states.

MALT BARLEY VALUE-CHAIN DEVELOPMENT
Oromia
Tackling the challenges faced by malt barley producing farmers.

MALT BARLEY IN AMHARA FOR LIVELIHOOD TRANSFORMATION
Amhara Region
The project is building on the capacity of farmers’ institutions, enabling them to provide services to individual member farmers.

EARLY SEED GENERATION
Amhara
Innovative project looking to prove the viability of farmer-led seed production as a means to address limited seed availability in Ethiopia.

COMMUNITY BASED SEED PRODUCTION
SNNPR
Increasing the volume of improved seed production for wheat, teff, barley and pulses.

SUSTAINABLE TRANSFORMATION OF AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES
Ormonia
Addressing the vulnerability of farmers to external shocks such as extreme climatic events by improving production of crops and livestock, and creating better links to markets.

LIVESTOCK GROWTH PROGRAMME
Oromia and SNNPR
Five-year project designed to reduce poverty by improving the productivity and competitiveness of livestock value chains.

IMPROVING HONEY PRODUCTION & QUALITY
SNNPR
Working with beekeepers in the SNNP region to increase quantity of honey produced as well as improving the quality of honey production, marketing and business planning.

CLIMATE SMART AGRICULTURE
SNNPR
Promoting a climate smart approach to agriculture built on three key pillars of: Increasing farm productivity, enhancing resilience and reducing agricultures contribution to climate change.

SMALLHOLDER SUPPORT SCHEME
Oromia
Working with 800 smallholder farmers to increase their production and productivity of maize and soybean to meet contract arrangements with Norish Business PLC.

BUILDING RESILIENCE THROUGH SEED AND CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE
Oromia
Promoting the adoption of climate smart agriculture and access to drought-tolerant crops as a means to improve farmers resilience to drought.