The Ethiopian Commodity Exchange announced the implementation of a new consolidated coffee grading system will go into effect in the coming harvest season. The new system reduces the number of coffee grades from 10 to 6 and better aligns quality with market prices, according to ECX.

A technical committee, funded by USAID under the AGP-Agribusiness Market Development (AGP-AMDe) program and led by coffee experts, conducted extensive studies to assess the alignment of coffee contracts with export standards and international best practices. The study also looked at the consistency and efficiency of the overall grading process and protocols.

“Ethiopia is the center of origin for Arabica coffee and exports coffee based on specific geographical origin in which each has its own distinguishing physical and organoleptic character, and the ECX tradable coffee contracts classification was designed to reflect the country’s distinct coffee character and quality profile,” according to the ECX statement.

The ECX also outlined that the historical trend of coffee quality inspection and grading system in Ethiopia showed a significant transformation from use of simple graduating cylinder to measure the physical quality of coffee to a more advanced and sophisticated ways of qualitative and in-depth organoleptic evaluation to assess the quality of coffee.

Capacity in Quality Grading

Over the past three years, the ECX and USAID have made significant progress in upgrading the capacity of ECX’s coffee laboratories and coffee graders.

AGP-AMDe funded the renovation of modern coffee cupping laboratories in Addis Ababa, Jimma, Hawassa and Dilla. At each lab, the program provided grinding and roasting machines, moisture testing equipment, all used specifically for grading coffee at ECX delivery centers. The improvements put ECX on the path to certification from the Specialty Coffee Association of America, and the Addis Ababa lab became Africa’s first SCAA-certified coffee grading lab.

Members of the ECX Hawassa coffee grading team

“SCAA lab certification is not only about the right machines, but everything from the lighting to the curtains must be perfect,” says Rahel. “We have achieved that and with our growing number of Q-graders our team is more prepared than ever.” The Hawassa delivery center receives over 50,000 MT of coffee for grading each year, or 25% of the country’s coffee.

To complement the new laboratories, ECX and AGP-AMDe have funded the certification of over 70 new ECX and private Q-Graders, increasing the number of Q-Graders in Ethiopia to over 100. Q-Grader certification is the most demanding coffee grading standard in the world.

“We have seen good cupping skills in Ethiopia compared to other developing nations, here the graders are very highly skilled,” says Mario Fernandez, Coffee Quality Institute’s Technical Director. “The main challenges for cupping in Ethiopia is keeping Q-Grader licenses valid and in good standing every three years and creating the new generation of cuppers to sustainably carry it into the future.”

Another step towards cupping sustainability is certifying Ethiopia’s first full-fledged Q-Grader Instructor, the ECX Quality Operations Manager, Mekonnen Haile-Michael. By the end of 2015, he is expected to be able to carry out independent Q-Grading training on a regular basis, and meet the demand for new cuppers.

“There is a common worldwide language in coffee quality, and Ethiopia is now speaking this language. SCAA certified labs give American buyers more confidence in ECX grading. If a buyer orders a Grade III, we deliver a Grade III. And with the traceability tags, the buyer can know even more.”

The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange announced the official launch of its IBM-enabled national traceability system, known as eATTS.  The system, which will start by piloting coffee in the current harvest season, is expected to increase exports of high-quality Ethiopian coffee world-wide and enhance market access for specialty coffee from Ethiopia.

The traceability initiative is led and owned by ECX, which contributed $1.4 million USD toward the total project cost of $4.5 million USD. The project came to fruition in collaboration with USAID, which contributed $1.8 million under its Agribusiness Market Development activity, and Nestle, Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE), Mother Parker’s Coffee & Tea and The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), who jointly contributed $1.3 million through the Sustainable Coffee Program.

“USAID has been supporting the coffee industry in Ethiopia, from farm-gate to final market, for many years. We are very excited about the launch of this innovative, multi-stakeholder traceability initiative that marries market development and ground-break technology to meet international demands and strengthen the entire value chain,” according to Dennis Weller, Mission Director of USAID Ethiopia.

Ethiopia’s new Coffee Traceability System will track bags from the washing station.

The new tagging system links bags of coffee traded through the ECX to one of over 2500 geo-referenced washing, hulling and cleaning stations located in Ethiopia’s southern, central and western coffee growing regions. Each tag’s embedded information includes photos of the station as well as names and contact information for the station manager.

“True traceability goes beyond the commodity’s type or origin to tracing where the commodity has been. We wish to track the footprint of our coffee and where and when it was washed, stored, who sampled and graded it, and when it was shipped. All of these facts will help improve our ability to move commodities traded within the exchange and create premium value for all stakeholders in the value chain,” explained ECX CEO, Ermias Eshetu.

Over the past three years, Ethiopia and partners have drastically improved coffee grading

Buyers of commodities have become more discerning and willing to pay for quality, environmentally-friendly and origin-specific commodities. Additionally, international buyers demand transparency and accountability within supply chains, so as to ensure the quality, consistency and safety of their products. To meet these demands, ECX and partners are implementing a wide array of activities, including electronic tracking of bags, innovations in washing and processing, and streamlined storage and transportation processes.

“The traceability system will utilize IBM’s powerful cloud platform, analytics and mobile to provide ECX with continuous real-time data insights that enable the system to learn and predict the quality of Ethiopian coffee based on local growth and processing conditions.” said IBM General Manager for East Africa, Nik Nesbitt. “The system will analyze incoming client coffee quality needs and match that with the needs of buyers across the globe.”

Improvements in sustainability and traceability incentivize farmers to use the best techniques to grow and harvest different commodities. Innovations in processing stations and ECX laboratories also guarantee world best practice methods are used to grade and certify commodities before they are traded on the ECX platform.

As Linda Butler, coffee sustainability manager at Nestlé, stated, “Nestlé welcomes this key development toward a successful future for the whole of the Ethiopian coffee industry, from farmers to exporters. Supply chain transparency, the foundation which sustainability is built upon, will enable consumers all around the world to learn more about this great coffee producing nation, farmers to be rewarded for excellence in coffee quality, and roasters like us to collaborate in a meaningful way with farmers and key partners to increase productivity, efficiency, quality, social and environmental conditions, building together better living conditions in coffee communities.”

Improvements in sustainability and traceability incentivize farmers to use the best techniques to grow and harvest coffee. Innovations in processing stations and ECX laboratories also guarantee the latest methods are used to grade the beans before being sold on the ECX platform.

The ECX traceability is the world’s first nationally owned system, and will soon cover all of Ethiopia’s coffee growing regions, which encompass over 5 million smallholder farmers. The traceability system will be in place for this year’s coffee harvest, opening a new chapter in Ethiopia’s fabled coffee history.

Ethiopian Coffee will never be the same

***

The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) is a new initiative for Ethiopia and the first of its kind in Africa. The vision of ECX is to revolutionize Ethiopia’s tradition bound agriculture through creating a new marketplace that serves all market actors, from farmers to traders to processors to exporters to consumers. The ECX is a unique partnership of market actors, the Members of the Exchange, and its main promoter, the Government of Ethiopia. ECX represents the future of Ethiopia, bringing integrity, security, and efficiency to the market. For more information, visit: www.ecx.com.et

The USAID Agribusiness Market Development Program is the Feed the Future initiative’s flagship program in Ethiopia and represents one of USAID’s largest contributions to the Government of Ethiopia‘s Agricultural Growth Program. The $3.5 billion global hunger and food security initiative sustains the U.S. Government’s commitment as one of Ethiopia’s largest partners in developing the agriculture sector, which is a fundamental cornerstone of the Ethiopian economy. For more information, visit: www.usaid.gov/ethiopia

The Sustainable Coffee Program, powered by The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), is a global, pre-competitive, public private initiative. The program convenes industry and trade partners, producers, (local) governments and research institutions, donors, NGOs and standard setting organizations in the coffee sector. The ambition is to help bring global sustainable coffee production and sourcing practices to scale, by aligning stakeholder investments in producer support programs, to improve farmer livelihoods while preserving natural resources and enabling coffee producers to become more resilient in an ever-changing market. For more information, visit: www.sustainablecoffeeprogram.com

Ethiopia, which claims to be the birth place of coffee, is on the right track to transform coffee farmers from price takers to price makers, United States coffee traders said.

The country aims to reverse the declining income from coffee export over the past years through specialty coffee promotion, which is expected to generate premium price at the international market.

“There are already cases in Ethiopia where that [coffee price making by farmers] is happening. The unions of Yirgachefe, Oromia, etc, they have already set their prices. And those prices are not related to New York prices. Last year their prices were much higher. Those prices has been going up and Ethiopian coffee is becoming expensive,” said Timothy Chapdelaine, Managing Director of Trabocca, coffee roaster in North America.

Meanwhile, Ethiopia has not yet been able to reverse the declining trend of country’s export earnings from coffee over the past five years. Ethiopia’s export earnings from coffee has been declining over the past five years reaching $780 million last year (2014/15 budget year) from close to $842 million five years before, according to the statistics from the Ministry of Trade of Ethiopia.

Mr. Chapdelaine, says that the traditional practice of setting prices for agricultural commodities like coffee by global traders at international commodity markets is now changing.

Improvements in coffee quality, infrastructure and logistics as well as the integration of Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX), the unions and individual farmers are contributing to the price increase of Ethiopian coffee on the international coffee market, according to Mr. Chapdelaine who is a weeklong tour in Ethiopian coffee farms along with couple of dozens of United States roasters.

“When those components are in place, the ability to pay higher price for that coffee is greater,” he said speaking to reporters on Thursday in Addis Ababa.

Aided by EXC short messaging on the global prices Ethiopian farmers are now making informed decision, which is helping them to get better prices for their coffee. Every month ECX is getting a million SMS requests on the global price of coffee from smallholder farmers, according to Mr. Ermias Eshetu, CEO of ECX.

“Ethiopian coffee varieties in most cases are categorized are specialty coffee, which we have not been able to market. Now there is a potential to be able to identify that particular variety. So that farmers can earn more for their hard work,” Mr. Ermias said.

Reports show that coffee farmers in Ethiopia were getting less than 10 percent of the profit from their beans, which is finally sold for up to $3 per cup in coffee shops abroad.

Promoting Ethiopia’s different coffee origins such as Yirgachefe is important for the country in order to make them specialty and get paid more for, according to Vanessa Adams, Director of the USAID-funded Agribusiness Market Development Program, which  arranged coffee farm visit of the traders in collaboration with ECX.

“Some coffees have different flavor profiles and qualities. We all talk about Yirgachefe or Harar, the ones which are the most recognized. But there are other coffee origins in Ethiopia; there are Sheka forest coffee, Fugi, Wollaita, Amaro, Limu, Nekemt. Those who live here know that, but the world doesn’t know,” she said, stressing for the need continue promoting origin, increase investment in washing, storage and bigger coffee farms as among the major contributors to increasing farmer incomes.

For now, whether promoting specialty coffee based on their origin can reverse the declining income of Ethiopia from coffee export and become free from negative effects of the fluctuating global coffee price, is yet to be seen.

“Things are moving in the right direction already and I think it will continue to. To be honest I think

Source

The Agriculture Growth Program (AGP) is a multi-donor funded comprehensive program anchored in the Ethiopian government’s focus on increasing sustainable agriculture growth. As a major component of the government’s five-year Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP), AGP complements existing programs, and promotes agricultural growth in targeted, potentially rich, but underdeveloped areas (woredas) of the country.  The program’s key strategic priorities are:

1. Agricultural production and commercialization through institutional strengthening, scaling up of best practices, market and agribusiness development; and
2. Rural infrastructure development and management though small-scale agricultural water management and market infrastructure development.

The program targets 96 woredas in four regions of Ethiopia:

• 39 in Oromia
• 26 in Amhara
• 22 in Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s (SNNPR)
• 9 in Tigray

The woredas, which have been selected for their agriculture suitability, potential for irrigation, infrastructure, and institutional capacity, comprise AGP’s main beneficiaries of small and medium-scale farmers with an average land holding of less than 1 hectare (ranging between 0.25 and 2.3 hectares). Through AGP, women and young small-scale farmers are encouraged and enabled to have increased participation in the agricultural sector.

The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) is a ministry of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia which oversees the agricultural and rural development policies of the country on a federal level. The powers and duties of the MoA include:

• Conservation and use of forest and wildlife resources
• Food security
• Water use and small-scale irrigation
• Monitoring events affecting agricultural development and early warning systems
• Promoting agricultural development
• Establishing and providing agriculture and rural technology training

Established in 1907, the MOA has shaped the institutional agricultural landscape in Ethiopia for over 100 years.  The MOA works to increase agricultural production, productivity, and economic performance, as well as to serve in a leadership role for developing and implementing national agricultural policy in the country.

The Government of Ethiopia has demonstrated a strong commitment to agriculture and the rural development through allocation of more than 10 per cent of the county’s total budget to these sectors.

The Agricultural Growth Program – Agribusiness and Market Development (AGP-AMDe) is a flagship project under USAID and President Obama’s Feed the Future initiative. AGP-AMDe represents USAID’s largest contribution to the government of Ethiopia’s Agricultural Growth Program (AGP). In line with the overall objectives of AGP, the program works to sustainably reduce poverty and hunger by improving the productivity and competitiveness of value chains that offer jobs and income opportunities for rural households.

Click here for an updated fact sheet.

AGP-AMDe has four primary components:

• Component 1: Improving the competitiveness of selected value chains
• Component 2: Improving access to finance
• Component 3: Improving the enabling environment of selected value chains
• Component 4: Stimulating increased innovation and investment

AGP-AMDe targets six value chains: chickpeas, coffee, honey, maize, sesame and wheat. All value chains have been identified for their potential to improve both food security and farmer incomes. Additionally, support for improved farming practices through woredas is expected to have a spill-over effect on non-targeted value-chains (e.g., rice).  For several value chains, Ethiopia is famed for unique product characteristics. AGP-AMDe is transforming the comparative advantages of these value chains into competitive advantages that benefit all stakeholders, especially smallholder farmers, including women. AGP-AMDe anticipates that more than 1 million smallholder producers will benefit over the program’s five year period. Gross margins for these farmers are expected to double, and losses dramatically cut.

AGP-AMDe’s value chain activities are designed to:

• Strengthen the competitiveness of the selected value chains
• Increase access to finance, thereby encouraging investment, productivity and trade
• Improve the enabling environment, working closely with the Ethiopian government
• Expand public-private partnership investments to buy down risks and leverage the impact of innovations, such as ideas supported through the Innovation and Demonstration Fund, a cost-share grant program.

AGP-AMDe promotes economic growth in all four AGP-selected regions: Amhara (where the project operates in 22 woredas); Oromia (34 woredas); Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region (19 woredas); and Tigray (8 woredas).

Project and Activities

The results of AGP-AMDe contribute significantly to USAID’s development objective of Increased Economic Growth with Resiliency in Rural Ethiopia. AGP-AMDe works in close cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), AGP partners, ATA, Federal Cooperative Agency (FCA) and strategic partners to contribute to the following Intermediate Results:

IR 1: Improved Performance of the Agriculture Sector

AGP-AMDe undertakes activities to strengthen the agricultural production and marketing systems. The project expands access to improved inputs (including seed and fertilizer) and farm technology; introduces effective post-harvest handling that reduces loss; strengthens public and private sector agricultural services; and expands value addition through agro-processing. Interventions in the enabling environment support the emergence of increasingly supportive policies and practice. The project actively coordinates with Empowering New Generations in Improved Nutrition and Economic Opportunities (ENGINE) and Graduation with Resilience to Achieve Sustainable Development (GRAD) on a number of these initiatives.

IR 2: Improved Private Sector Competitiveness

AGP-AMDe strengthens private sector associations and actors, and builds the capacity of the cooperative sector to operate as successful agribusinesses to the benefit of their members. The project increases access to financial and other services throughout the target value chains; improves the quality, consistency and transparency of marketing systems; expands investments and trade in the value chains using innovation funds; and establishes domestic and export market linkages that serve as successful models for replication.

IR 3: Increased Resiliency to and Protection from Shocks

AGP-AMDe works with financial sector associations and service providers to improve relations within the finance industry, establish and strengthen linkages with the agriculture sector, introduce agricultural financing risk mitigating products, expand microfinance institution (MFI) services and strengthen savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs). The project supports the emergence of an enforceable legal contracts system and improves the flow of agricultural market and production information to enable value chain actors and service providers to make informed decisions.

IR 4: Improved Nutritional Status of Women and Young Children

AGP-AMDe strengthens women’s livelihoods through their targeted inclusion in honey production and marketing, cereals marketing, coffee cupping, and other value chain functions. The project increases food availability and income through the development of target value chains. AGP-AMDe supports the fortification of processed foods through investment. Nutritional information will be integrated into agriculture extension services and disseminated effectively through agro-dealers, frequency modulation (FM) radio and short message service (SMS) messaging.

What is AGP-Livestock Market Development?

The Agricultural Growth Program-Livestock Market Development (AGP-LMD) is a five-year project funded by the U.S. Government’s Feed the Future (FTF) Initiative as part of the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) contribution to the Government of Ethiopia’s Agricultural Growth Program (AGP). The AGP’s goal “to end poverty and enhance growth” aligns with FTF’s goal to “sustainably reduce poverty and hunger.” AGP- LMD follows a holistic value chain development approach and is developing the capacity of value chain businesses. Its operations take place in highly-productive highland woredas of Ethiopia that have the largest livestock populations with large number of smallholder producers.

Value Chain Focus

AGP-LMD applies a value chain development approach to ensure that these value chains can compete in the domestic and international market.

Meat/Live Animals (MLA)

Photo by Kelley Lynch

AGP-LMD works closely with actors in the middle segment of the cattle, sheep and goats meat and live animal value chain, and assists them to expand market reach and become enterprises that are more efficient. AGP-LMD also creates stronger market linkages, based on mutual benefits and synergies among actors at different levels of the value chain.

Dairy

Photo by Kelley Lynch

AGP-LMD assists dairy producer groups, milk collectors, processors and other supporting businesses to increase milk production at the farm level, improve collection and logistics, and strengthen processing capacity and efficiency. In addition, AGP-LMD stimulates demand, to spark growth in volume and efficiency across the value chain.

Hides and Skins

Photo by Kelley Lynch

AGP-LMD focuses its efforts on improving and increasing hide and skin processing and collection through abattoirs and slaughter houses. These activities increase the volume of hides and skins by reducing rejection rates and developing a more effective marketing/collection system that preserves the quality of the materials.

Project Consortium

AGP-LMD is led by CNFA and supported by 13 consortium partners. CNFA, a Washington, D.C.-based international development organization specializes in implementing enterprise -based agricultural/livestock development initiatives that are designed to facilitate market access, enhance agribusiness competitiveness, increase productivity and improve access to inputs and finance.

CNFA has mobilized a team of international partners, including the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV), which has been at the forefront of Ethiopian dairy development and International Medical Corps (IMC), which integrates its 10 years of continuous work addressing HIV/AIDS and nutrition in Ethiopia to the CNFA approach. Additionally, J.E. Austin & Associates (JAA) is leading value chain analytics, the Institute for International Education (IIE) is contributing its approach to gender equity, and the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) is integrating technology solutions into all program activities.

In addition, the consortium includes four large and experienced regional partners operating in the AGP-LMD target regions. REST, HUNDEE, ORDA and Self Help Africa provide regional office facilities and regionally-based personnel for front-line implementation of AGP-LMD activities. Local consulting firms TREG, BCaD, Precise Consult and DOT Ethiopia support the program’s relevant studies/analyses.

Project Objectives

AGP-LMD addresses USAID’s Strategic Objective of improving smallholder incomes and nutritional status through the achievement of three key USAID intermediate results (IRs):

I. Increase Productivity and Competitiveness of Selected Value chains

II. Strengthen Enabling Environment for Livestock Value Chains

III. Improve Quality and Diversity of Household Diet Through Intake of Livestock Products

Integrated into these components are the crosscutting objectives of engaging people living with HIV/AIDS, gender equity, promotion of ICT solutions, environmental mitigation and natural resource management.

Vision

To create a vibrant and competitive livestock industry driven and built on public and private investment that generates employment and income for smallholder families and provides affordable, high-quality, nutritious livestock products for consumers, particularly vulnerable households.

Why Ethiopia?

Ethiopia has the largest cattle population in Africa at 52 million, including 10.5 million dairy cattle, placing the country in the top eight livestock-producing countries in the world. Despite these high statistics, Ethiopia is not meeting its potential. In 2011, the volume of global meat exports was estimated to be $105 billion, and Ethiopia accounted for less than one percent of this total (0.75 percent, or $79 million). Additionally, the country is a net importer of dairy products, despite its large dairy cattle population and ideal resources for improved milk production. Livestock and livestock products are Ethiopia’s fifth-most important commodities, but the sector needs support in order to become more economically productive for the country and its population. AGP-LMD’s efforts self-propels value chains so that they are primed for continued growth and development in a sustainable way.

Projects and Activities

Increasing Farm Productivity

Providing training to livestock producers to enable them to increase their livestock production and expanding private farm supply businesses to provide commercial farm inputs and services.

Linking Smallholders to Markets

Strengthening smallholders’ ability to access markets is a key project activity that includes expanding rural milk collection systems, livestock markets, cooperatives and processors efforts to directly purchase products.

Improving Access to Finance & Investment

Catalyzing increased private sector investment by mitigating risk, facilitating expansion of credit markets, increasing awareness of livestock sector lending, improving business skills and providing innovation grants when commercial financial services are inadequate.

Empowering Stakeholders for Policy Reform and Advocacy

Facilitating policy discussions to alleviate and reform the bottle necks identified by the different stakeholders through workshops, roundtables and multi-stakeholder platforms.

Launching Nutrition Campaign

Conducting a nutrition campaign to promote animal source food consumption and dietary diversification. Campaign focuses specifically on caretakers with children under the age of two and pregnant mothers.

Implementing Economic Strengthening Activities for People Living with HIV (PLHIV) Community

Utilizing experience of its consortium to implement market -oriented interventions to enhance and boost PLHIV’s economic status within the three target value chains.

CASCAPE Logo

The Capacity building for scaling up of evidence-based practices in agricultural production in Ethiopia (CASCAPE) is a five year project funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and set up and implemented by the Ethiopian government to support component 1.2 (scaling up of best practices) of the Agricultural Growth Program (AGP). CASCAPE aims to support the efforts of the AGP in scaling up and promoting best practices to increase their effectiveness and to evaluate their short and long-term impacts on and offsite.

Initiated in mid-2010 with the intention to further assist the strengthening of the capacity of stakeholders on scaling up of best practices and to introduce newly discovered practices for agricultural production. CASCAPE also provides an evidence base for best practices as well as creating linkages between farmers, NGO’s, the private sector, universities, research institutes and policy makers.

The added value of CASCAPE in relation to the AGP is that we bring in scientific expertise for:

• -Detailed understanding of current farming systems and their effects on various sustainability issues;
• -Verification of best practices, identification of key factors for sustainable increased production and for successful uptake of these practices;
• -Evaluate short term and long term effects of selected practices on sustainability.

Goal

To contribute to increased agricultural productivity through uptake of sustainable practices.

Purpose

The purpose of CASCAPE is to identify drivers for uptake of innovations, test and disseminate these and evaluate their short and long term effects and with this knowledge stimulate scaling up of innovations.

Objective

The objective of CASCAPE is to support the Ethiopian Government to increase agricultural productivity in a sustainable way in order to enhance agricultural growth and to achieve food security. The sub-objectives are:

• -To analyze the conditions (socio-economic, biophysical, institutional/policy and technological) under which innovations are successfully implemented at farm & community level;
• -Introduce, test, validate and document innovations and make recommendations for scaling up;
• -To support the development of effective stakeholder and knowledge networks at various levels, to promote scaling up of innovations.
• -To support the Agricultural Growth Program (AGP) and the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) on specific subjects either directly or through related implementing agencies

Projects and Activities

Activities for objective 1: To analyze the conditions (socio-economic, biophysical, institutional and technological) under which innovations are successfully implemented at farm and community level

In the first half of 2012 major progress has been made with regard to the baseline surveys. Data of 448 farms per region are entered for all teams except Jimma, who is about to start data entry. In the second half of 2012 data analysis and reporting will follow. Also, all teams performed a MonQI test with at least 10 farmers. This test made the teams acquainted with the toolbox and they are now ready to use it for quantitative evaluation of on-farm experiments. The results of the test datasets will be evaluated in the second half of 2012 during the backstopping mission in November 2012.

Activities for objective 2: Introduce, test, validate and document innovations and make recommendations for scaling up

Each team has selected and implemented a number of innovations in the field that address the topics identified in the PRA. As the PRA revealed different topics and target groups, the innovation themes as such also show a diversity in approach and organization. E.g. some innovations have an scientific experimental design, whereas others have a demonstration and/or promotion design; some are commodity based and include the value chain, others are targeting natural resources management; most are intended to improve existing practices, other aim at the introduction of new crops. This diversity is a consequence of an earlier decision to address as much as possible local constraints and opportunities.

All teams have started to implement the mentioned innovations. Most of them are in the form of demonstration trials to reach a considerable number of farmers. The Jimma team has started the innovation theme on maize and sorghum varieties and adopted a chronological implementation schedule.

Activities for objective 3: To support the development of effective stakeholder and knowledge networks at various levels, to promote scaling up of innovations

In all regions scoping studies, involving the major stakeholders, were carried out in order to identify constraints and opportunities in agricultural production. Final selection of innovation themes where discussed in regional stakeholder meetings.

All teams have made major efforts to create publicity around CASCAPE by using e.g. leaflets, banners, and field days and participated as well as organized several meetings to mobilize different groups of stakeholders. CASCAPE seems to be well known and appreciated in the regions.

In the first half of 2012 two MSc thesis studies were carried out entitled:

• -Opazo Salazar. Nutrient balances and soil fertility management strategies in smallholder farms in Tigray, Ethiopia. MSc thesis Wageningen University.
• -Corral Nunez. Current and predicted soil organic matter contents in Mekan and Tsga villages, southern Tigray, Ethiopia. Internship report Wageningen university.

These reports revealed that:

• -Model farmers earn about twice as much as non-model farmers in the selected areas in Tigray. This difference is mainly caused by larger farm size, more livestock and access to irrigation. The question now remains by what means they have got access to these better production facilities. The application of best practices appeared to have less impact on the performance.
• -Soil organic matter contents are seriously declining. This trend can be reversed, but only when alternatives are found for using organic matter as fuel for cooking.

Additional activities at the request of EKN

Fast track Small Scale Irrigation

The international small-scale irrigation (SSI) expert, Dr Olaf Verheijen, conducted his first mission for the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) in Ethiopia from 15 to 29 March 2012 to support the provision of fast-track support to the SSI component of the Agriculture Growth Program (AGP). The second mission of the international SSI expert took place from 18 May until 10 June 2012.

The deliverables of the second mission of the international SSI Expert include:

– Revised proposed format for SSI System Feasibility and Design Report;

– Draft Concept Paper for Small-Scale and Micro Irrigation Support Project;

– Fast-Track Support Implementation Report

Home Gardens

Increasingly, the potentials of fruit and vegetable home gardens to contribute to improving food security and nutrition security are recognized in both the policy and scientific debate. Therefore, a dedicated research proposal was developed for a study on home garden vegetable and fruit production in Ethiopia. The aim of the study is to better understand the importance and role of current home garden production for household food and nutrition security in Ethiopia. Results support the identification of best practices in home garden production and locally promising home garden options that may be tested at wider scale. The study consists of a literature review and field survey of farmers in the Meki/Ziway area.

In the period January-June 2012 the following activities have taken place:

• -Formulation of the Terms of Reference for the study in collaboration with local actors in the field of vegetable production and health & nutrition such as EHPEA, UNICEF and the Ripple project. (Jan-Feb).
• -Identification of a local consultant (Ato Lemma Dessalegne) to carry out the study (Mar)
• -Development of work plan by consultant and contractual arrangements with consultant (Apr-May)
• -Signing of contract (June)
• -Start of literature review and field work (June)

Monitoring and evaluation

A strategy for farm selection was prepared and resulted in a stratified sampling strategy of 448 randomly selected farms per region from 2 strata (gender and model/non-model farmer). Additionally, in each region 64 non-project farmers are selected to evaluate project impact. This strategy is discussed with the university team and all baseline surveys have been carried out.

MonQI, a tool for the detailed inventory (bio-physical and socio-economic), analysis and monitoring of the performance of farm households has been tested by all teams. The MonQI software has been adjusted to the projects’ needs and will be used for continuous monitoring of selected farm households.

A monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system for the project as a whole has been developed by Wageningen UR – CDI and is based on the theory of change that has been developed for the project. The M&E system is such that it also contributes to the indicators EKN needs for their reporting on food security to the Netherlands government.

Communication

The project website (www.cascape.info) has been developed and is in operation. In the last 3 months of 2011 the on-line learning platform (NING) for all staff and team members of CASCAPE has been developed and is now in operation.

The first CASCAPE newsletter was published in August 2011. In February 2012 and June 2012 the second and third newsletters were published.

The Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) is a results-driven organization within the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) that reports to a Transformation Council chaired by the Prime Minister and vice-chaired by the Minister of Agriculture.  The ATA seeks to accelerate the transformation of the agricultural sector so that it substantially contributes to the goal of Ethiopia achieving middle-income status by 2025.  The ATA accelerates change by working strategically with multiple stakeholders including the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), other federal ministries, the Bureaus of Agriculture of the four large regions, civil society, the private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), farmers, and development partners.  The ATA, in this way ensures that efforts are aligned, activities are coordinated, and an enabling environment is created so that farmers can benefit from adoption of proven production and post-harvest technologies and market linkages, thereby increasing their yields and income and consequently contributing to the development of their families, their communities, and their country.

The ATA’s efforts to bring transformation is centered around problem solving/diagnostics, identification of systemic bottlenecks, development of strategies in consultation with key relevant stakeholders, and support for implementation of interventions with partners.  To fulfill this mission, the ATA combines systemic intervention programs (e.g., soil health, cooperatives) with crop-specific value chain programs (e.g., tef, wheat, sesame) and special initiatives (e.g., technology access and adoption and gender) to enable solutions to be delivered through a systems-based approach.

Mandate

The mandate of ATA is to address systemic bottlenecks in the agriculture sector by supporting and enhancing the capability of the MoA and other public, private, and non-governmental implementing partners. In doing so, ATA will support the doubling of production of key crops and at least an annual growth rate of 8.1% in the agricultural sector in the next 4 years.

ATA mandate

The ATA achieves its objectives through:

• -Clear, inclusive and widely consultative stakeholder engagement throughout the problem solving analysis and implementation support efforts.
• -Rigorous, objective, prioritized recommendations that are fact based and build on the diagnostics and other existing research.
• -Hiring diverse staff in order to bring the best local and international analytic and technical expertise to bear on problem solving, implementation support and capability building.

Projects and Activities

ATA has established three programmatic areas that in combination will address the needs of the agricultural sector and improve the lives of smallholder farmers:

1. Systemic interventions.  These programs address national level bottlenecks that, when completed, will benefit all farmers regardless of geography or crop.  Systems programs include seeds, soil health, cooperatives, input/output markets, and extension and research.

2.   Value chain geographies. 

1. Value chain programs address the production needs of specific crops that have the greatest potential to impact agricultural growth rates.  In consultation with the Transformation Council and the MoA, ATA will initially focus on eight crops that taken together contribute to 60% of the total crop production: tef, wheat, sesame, maize, barley, coffee, sorghum, and chickpea.
2. Each value chain has a specific geography, which is defined by where the crop is grown.  The ATA partnered with Tigray, Amhara, Oromia, and SNNP regions to identify high-producing areas for the eight focus crops.. The four regions are also where the Agricultural Growth Program (AGP) is being implanted.

3.   Special initiatives.  These programs are cross cutting and address specific areas that are important to the long term success of the systemic and value chain programs.  These areas include gender; technology access and adoption; climate change adaptation and environmental sustainability; and measurement, learning, and evaluation.

ATA-AGP Collaborations

The ATA supports the implementation of critical aspects of the AGP through three specific areas of collaboration:

• -Strategy and policy linkages – strengthen the linkage between the ATA and AGP in the areas of programmatic overlap to ensure that the ATA’s policy recommendations are informed by input from the AGP woredas and that ATA policy recommendations that are approved by the government in these areas of programmatic overlap;
• -Household irrigation – coordinate and accelerate the scale-up and adoption of household-level irrigation programs, including manual and mechanized pump technologies, in AGP woredas based on comprehensive analysis of productivity and commercial potential, natural resource constraints and other farm-level incentives; and
• -Monitoring and Evaluation – strengthen the monitoring and evaluation capacity of MoA to effectively collect, analyze and develop policy recommendations by leveraging the outputs and learnings from the AGP woredas and supporting the MoA in scaling them to other woredas.

As such ATA’s support to the AGP has focused around the following specific areas of programmatic overlap:

1. 1.   Strategy and policy linkages:

• -Seed Program
  • -Develop 5-year overall seed sector strategy (formal + intermediate + informal) Strengthen enforcement capability of regulatory bodies at Federal and regional levels through institutional review and capacity building

• -Cooperative Program
  • -Develop and popularize 5-year cooperative sector development strategy and provide implementation support to the Federal Cooperative Agency

• -Soil Health and Fertility Management Program (including EthioSIS and Fertilizer Blending projects):
  • -Endorse and launch 5 year national sector strategy for soil health and fertility
  • -Develop soil test based Fertilizer recommendation
  • -Establish national soil resource focal body
  • -Rollout key Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) practices and promote ISFM
  • -Operationalize 4 fertilizer blending plants as business entities under the ownership of selected cooperative unions
  • -Setup the Ethiopian Soil Information System (EthioSIS) and develop digital soil map of the entire country

1. 2.    Household Irrigation (HHI) Program

• -Develop five-year strategy for Household Irrigation
• -Develop HHI service provision models
• -Establish national irrigation pump standards and implement enforcement mechanisms
• -Undertake local capacity gap assessments to manufacture engine/motor pumps
• -Undertake pump supply chain-procurement study and pilot initial implementation of top recommendations

1. 3.    Monitoring and Evaluation Program

• -Provide regular technical support in the implementation of sector wide M&E system, including building the capacity of the MoA – PPD

In rural areas of Ethiopia, market places are often situated in the open air creating a vulnerability to dirt and hazards such as wind, overhead sun and rain. These problems create cumbersome conditions for transaction, reduce product qualities and at times of severe incidences result in market failure.

The Agricultural Growth Program (AGP), under the small-scale rural market infrastructure development and management sub-component, is focused on primary market centers development where producers could directly access suppliers and/or consumers. This intervention will include:

• Upgrading the infrastructure of market centers located in rural, peri-urban and urban (zonal, district towns, and/or kebele towns) areas
• Conduct participatory baseline survey
• Preparation of market land use plan and management strategy
• Paving the market site; constructing market shed, community warehouses and  access roads
• Mobilizing community participation for infrastructure upgrading and Establishing Market Center Management Committee (MCMC);
• Training of Market Center Management Committee on market infrastructure management and marketing, leadership and communication, bank account management, maintenance of the market infrastructure, gender issues, and social conflict management in marketing activities.
• Development of Market center infrastructure management strategy.

As part of these activities, it is expected that 40 primary, 20 secondary and 8 terminal market centers will be improved and/or developed.

Agencia Espanola De Cooperacion International Para El Desarrollo

Canadian International Development Agency – Government of Canada

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

United National Development Program (UNDP)

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

World Bank Group

The future of coffee grading in Ethiopia is in one man’s hands.

Mekonnen Haile Michael is Ethiopia’s first Q Certification Lead Instructor, certified and capable to lead Q Certification courses for future Ethiopian cuppers. Mekonnen works as Quality Operations Manager at the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange—ECX.

The historical achievement came in December 2015 when dozens of students were trained by the Coffee Quality Institute. Over 50 graders from the private and public sector are currently working towards becoming a licensed Q Grader or renewing their certification, and one instructor has reached the level of Assistant Instructor.

Mekonnen Haile Michael, Ethiopia’s first Q Grader Lead Instructor

Mekonnen started out as a Q Grader five years ago, became an Assistant Instructor last year and gained the necessary practical experience working side-by-side with CQI instructors to become Lead Instructor.

“There is a common worldwide language in coffee quality, and Ethiopia is now speaking this language,” explains Mekonnen.

“We have seen good cupping skills in Ethiopia compared to other developing nations, here the graders are very highly skilled,” says Mario Fernandez, Coffee Quality Institute’s Technical Director. “The main challenges for cupping in Ethiopia is keeping Q-Grader licenses valid and in good standing every three years and creating the new generation of cuppers to sustainably carry it into the future.”

Mekonnen will play a key role in the latter and has already organized the next Q Grader courses in February 2016.

Over the last three years, the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange and the AGP-Agribusiness Market Development Program have funded the certification of over 70 new ECX and private Q Graders, and increased the number of Q Graders in Ethiopia to over 100. Q-Grader certification is the most demanding coffee grading standard in the world.

Q Certification Training is an intensive review of the cupping and grading protocols required of a Licensed Q Arabica Grader combined with a comprehensive evaluation of an individual’s ability to consistently cup and grade green coffee.

The course combines training and testing to reinforce the student’s understanding of the Q Arabica Grading process while measuring their ability to evaluate coffee according to the Specialty Coffee Association of America standards.

In addition to grading and cupping, ECX and the USAID-funded program have made significant progress in upgrading the capacity of ECX’s coffee laboratories. AGP-AMDe funded the renovation of modern coffee cupping laboratories in Addis Ababa, Jimma, Hawassa and Dilla. At each lab, the program provided grinding and roasting machines, moisture testing equipment, all used specifically for grading coffee at ECX delivery centers. The improvements put ECX on the path to certification from the Specialty Coffee Association of America, and the Addis Ababa lab became Africa’s first SCAA-certified coffee grading lab.

Q Graders in Training

“SCAA lab certification is not only about the right machines, but everything from the lighting to the curtains must be perfect,” says Rahel Mahlet, the Hawassa ECX Branch Head. “We have achieved that and with our growing number of Q-graders our team is more prepared than ever.” The Hawassa delivery center receives over 50,000 MT of coffee for grading each year, or 25% of the country’s coffee.

“Consistency is critical to the sustainability of Ethiopia’s coffee sector. Improved capacity in grading and cupping have already improved the overall reputation of Ethiopian coffee. Today, when a buyer orders a Grade III, we deliver a Grade III,” says Mekonnen.

USAID honors the winners of the Innovated Business Plan Competition with prizes worth 500,000 Ethiopian birr.

The Women in Agribusiness Leadership Network, WALN, in partnership with USAID Agribusiness Market Development (AMDe) and Livestock Market Development (LMD) programs, held its second annual conference January 13, 2016 in the Ethiopian capital.

Both USAID projects are part of the Ethiopian government’s Agriculture Growth Program.

Over 600 people, including WALN members from all over Ethiopia, government and USAID representatives and private sector stakeholders attended the conference to applaud the women and their hard work over the past six months. The WALN organization targets high-potential women leaders in agribusiness sectors to build skills in business planning, management and marketing and to develop leadership skills that enable growth and confidence.

The USAID-funded AMDe announced the five winners of the 2015 Innovative Business Plan Competition, and delivered prize money worth over 500,000 Ethiopian birr ($23,500 USD). The competition was held among WALN’s latest round of members: 125 women business owners who went through the WALN boot camp of better business, leadership and networking.

“WALN opened my eyes to how to run a business. I now recognize that I was blindly running operations. The training put me on the right track to create a professional organization with a much higher chance for success,” explains Fasika Gulta, owner of a poultry farm in Amhara and one of the five winners of the competition. “I didn’t even have a business plan before WALN.”

This year’s winners include two poultry farmers, a dairy farmer, a baker and a fruit farmer specialized in the production of cactus fruit.

Business Plan Competition 1st Place Winner, Rahel Mulatu, from Oromia stands with ECX CEO Ermias Eshetu and AGP-AMDe Director, Vanessa Adams

The USAID program initially launched the Women in Agribusiness Leadership Network in May of 2014 with 94 participants from the regions Oromia, Amhara, Tigray, SNNPR and Addis Ababa. In its first year, 90% of WALN members successfully completed the training program. To date, the group has reached over 1200 women, and is currently registering itself with the Ethiopian government and building a block of agribusiness leaders watching out for the interests of Ethiopian women, proving there is an urgent demand for women business organizations and leaders.

“WALN members are challenging the stereotypes of agriculture in Ethiopia. WALN has increased your confidence and reduced your fears. These skills make a real difference and make a difference every time you enter a new market, find a new client, or apply for a loan,” Ramona M EL Hamzaoui, the USAID Deputy Mission Director in Ethiopia, told WALN members on Wednesday.

Breathing New Life into Business

Sosina Sisay started her poultry business back in 2001 with just a few chickens. She specializes in the marketing of 1-day and 15-day old chicks, and sells eggs on the local market as well. Last year, she lost nearly all her chickens to a virus, and she hit a low-point in which she wondered if she should continue business.

“I had a lot of problems that were much bigger than losing the chickens. I had no business plan, no idea about financial management. Basically, I didn’t know how to run a business,” she says. Her sister told her about WALN, she applied in early 2015 and joined the 2^nd Round of Members in June.

“I wrote down all my problems, and WALN taught me how to deal with them.”

After the business training sessions, she began thinking strategically about how she could differentiate her products. One day she notice that the color of the egg’s yolk depending on the type of feed. She noticed yolks came out white, yellow and pinkish, and started marketing them as such.

“Chefs use eggs in a variety of foods and the colors affect the presentation of the food,” she says. However, she wouldn’t disclose the secret ingredient to get pinkish egg yolks.

Sosina Sisay tells the conference about chicken yolk marketing

“The US Government is committed to support initiatives that empower women. The opportunities for women leaders and business-owners are tremendous and continue to expand. WALN’s growing success proves the importance of the role of women in agribusiness and signifies the role they play in the development of Ethiopia.” explains US Ambassador Patricia Haslach.

Members of the Women in Agribusiness Leadership Network

***

The Agribusiness Market Development (AMDe) and Livestock Market Development (LMD) are the Feed the Future initiative’s flagship programs in Ethiopia and represents USAID’s contribution to the Government of Ethiopia‘s Agricultural Growth Program. The $3.5bn global hunger and food security initiative was created by President Obama and sustains the U.S. Government´s commitment as one of Ethiopia’s largest partners in developing the agriculture sector, which is a fundamental cornerstone of the Ethiopian economy. For more information visit www.ethioagp.org

USAID provided $1.1 million in matching business grants for 13 women entrepreneurs from the livestock sector

The Women in Agribusiness Leadership Network–WALN–in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Livestock Market Development project honored 13 women entrepreneurs who were awarded $1.1 million as part of an innovation grants activity at the annual conference of the Women in Agribusiness Leadership Network.

The innovation grants have led to $1.6 million in investments made by the entrepreneurs in their businesses.

Ethiopian women make up nearly half of the agriculture workforce and provide a significant amount of the farm labor to produce agricultural products consumed or sold by their families. However, they are not involved in the decision-making process on what crops to grow or when to sell them. They have limited access to training, market information, and credit that restricts their ability to participate in agribusiness.

“I come in contact with Ethiopian women quite often. Many of them are quiet and nervous if asked to speak in front of a group. Many defer to their male-counterparts when it comes time to make important decisions. These fears become a disadvantage when owning and running a business,” USAID Deputy Mission Director, Ramona M EL Hamzaoui, said to an audience of over 600 people.

“We can change this. We are changing this. The Women in Agribusiness Leadership Network is a prime example of how to empower Ethiopian women working in a sector that is traditionally run by men.”

In addition, USAID awarded certificates for 125 new WALN members who completed the six-month leadership and business training and mentorship program. In 2015, USAID Livestock Market Development supported WALN by connecting 280 trained women livestock entrepreneurs and leaders to the network.

USAID’s Agribusiness Market Development program celebrates achievements in a ceremony to honor the country’s farmers and agribusiness leaders

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, February 16, 2016 – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) today transitioned hundreds of undertakings of its Agribusiness Market Development activity to partners and government agencies to assure the sustainability and continuation of the work achieved. “The next five years will prove Ethiopia can meet its own food needs while impressing the world with high quality products,” said USAID Mission Director Dennis Weller.

After nearly five years of implementation, the activity has reached more than one million farmers and created nearly 6,000 full time jobs in the agribusiness sector. The activity’s interventions also facilitated $27.5 million in investment into Ethiopia’s agribusiness sector.

Through training, USAID helped farmers to improve their agriculture practices on more than 260,000 hectares of land. Through the resulting reduction in post-harvest losses, USAID supported over $189 million of farm gate sales of coffee, sesame, maize, chickpea, wheat and honey.

The USAID flagship agribusiness activity also partnered with banks and financial institutions to facilitate $137 million in loans, giving farmer’s cooperatives access to financial resources used to increase production, aggregation, sales and profits for farmers. A more vibrant agriculture and agro-processing sector puts more money in the pockets of farmers.

Using a matching-grants approach, USAID delivered more than 400 awards worth in excess of $14 million which supported farmer organizations and private companies to identify, install and use new technologies to become more efficient and competitive. Industrial processors, testing and grading equipment, modern warehousing, and improved varieties of seed assisted farmers to increase yields, reduce post-harvest losses, and export $160 million of agriculture commodities. With USAID support, hundreds of Ethiopian agribusiness leaders prepared for and presented their products and services at 20 international trade shows and conferences on four continents, putting Ethiopian products on the world map.

Beyond the technical aspects of the activity, USAID also increased the sector’s business skills by training farmers, women leaders and private sector partners on financial management, business plan writing, marketing and leadership skills. USAID increased the capacity of 54 farmer cooperative unions representing over 2,500 primary cooperatives and 1.9 million members through training and strategic investments.

The Agribusiness Market Development is the Feed the Future initiative’s flagship activity in Ethiopia and represents USAID’s contribution to the Government of Ethiopia‘s Agricultural Growth Program. The $3.5bn global hunger and food security initiative sustains the U.S. Government´s commitment as one of Ethiopia’s largest partners in developing the agriculture sector, which is a fundamental cornerstone of the Ethiopian economy.

After nearly five years of implementation, the Feed the Future, USAID and AGP-Agribusiness Market Development Program has reached more than one million farmers and created over 6,000 full time jobs in the agribusiness sector. The activity’s interventions also facilitated $27.5 million in investment into Ethiopia’s agribusiness sector, according to major stakeholders on hand project handover workshop, held February 16, 2016.

USAID Ethiopia Mission Director, Dennis Weller, State Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Wondirad Mandefro, and Agricultural Transformation Agency Director, Khalid Bomba made remarks at the event. In addition, Professor Tekalign, former advisor to the PM as well as Ethiopia Commodity Exchange CEO, Ermias Eshetu, delivered speeches about their work with the USAID program.

Through training, USAID helped farmers to improve their agriculture practices on more than 260,000 hectares of land. Through the resulting reduction in post-harvest losses, USAID supported over $182 million of farm gate sales of coffee, sesame, maize, chickpea, wheat and honey.

The USAID flagship agribusiness activity also partnered with banks and financial institutions to facilitate $174 million in loans, giving farmer’s cooperatives access to financial resources used to increase production, aggregation, sales and profits for farmers. A more vibrant agriculture and agro-processing sector puts more money in the pockets of farmers.

Using a matching-grants approach, USAID delivered nearly 400 awards worth $14 million which supported farmer organizations and private companies to identify, install and use new technologies to become more efficient and competitive. Industrial processors, testing and grading equipment, modern warehousing, and improved varieties of seed assisted farmers to increase yields, reduce post-harvest losses, and export $326 million of agricultural commodities. With USAID support, hundreds of Ethiopian agribusiness leaders prepared for and presented their products and services at 20 international trade shows and conferences on four continents, putting Ethiopian products on the world map.

Beyond the technical aspects of the activity, USAID also increased the sector’s business skills by training over 156,000 farmers, women leaders and private sector partners on financial management, business plan writing, marketing and leadership skills. USAID increased the capacity of 54 farmer cooperative unions representing over 2,500 primary cooperatives and 1.9 million members through training and strategic investments. The project exceeded nearly all of its targets by well over 100%.

Relive five years’ of achievements of Feed the Future AGP Agribusiness Market Development in this end-of-project overview.

Since 2011 when the project launched it has reached over 1.2 million people, created more than 6,000 jobs and influenced farm gate sales of US$181 million.

Thanks for the great collaboration working together over the past five years!

Egna Legna Cooperative was founded in October 2008. It is located on three hectares of land in SNNPR, Kaffa Zone, Chena Woreda, Wacha Kebele. The Coop has 45 members, 23 (51%) of whom are women. The cooperative buys individual cattle from the local area, feeds them on pasture for various periods of time, and then sells them to local butchers based on market demand. The coop has grown gradually but steadily since starting its operation, fattening five cattle in 2012, seven cattle in 2013, eight cattle in 2014, and is currently fattening 15 cattle/cycle. The coop is located in an area where backyard fattening of one to two head of cattle is common but marketing is not as easy.

Purpose of Grant

The purpose of this grant is to enable the Egna Legna Coop to:

1. Expand the number of cattle that it fattens in the coming three years (105 in Year 1, 120 in Year 2 and 150 in Year 3);
2. Upgrade its cattle fattening practices to include: i) all-in/all-out cycles, and ii) improved feeding by mixing balanced feed rations and producing cut and carry forage;
3. Utilize market information and custom transportation to purchase young cattle from markets with low prices and sell their fattened cattle at markets offering better margins; and
4. Provide new market access for 171 surrounding farmers (72 are women) who wish to expand their economic livelihood activities to include cattle fattening.

EIMPP is a dairy farm located 17 km east of the city of Bahir Dar. The farm is 30 ha which is primarily in forage production for the livestock. The farm introduced improved forages – Rhodes grass, Desmodium, vetch and other leguminous plants and trees to provide quality fodder for livestock. The farm is currently raising cattle for both dairy and beef. The aim of the company is to upgrade the herd by crossing the indigenous breed of Fogera cattle with Friesian/Holstein. The cross-bred cows will produce between 15 to 20 l/d on good feed compared to the local breeds producing less than 5 l/d. The farm is also developing a milk processing plant to process its own milk and the milk it collects from nearby farmers.

Purpose of Grant

The purpose of the grant is to enable Evergreen to collect and process high quality mil from its own farm (by improving waste management on the farm) collection centers. The grant funds will be used mainly to purchase of Milk Cooling Equipment (with quality testing equipment) and implementation of environmental management activities.

Gobe farm was private owned since 2002 by Tsegaye Koji. Gobe farm is located 284 kilometers south of Addis Ababa, 35 km from Sheshamene, 56 km from Hawassa and 11 km from Gobe. The farm includes 1600 ha, of which 1,015 ha are used for natural grazing, 30 ha are cultivated for animal fodder production, and some 50 ha has been developed for offices and facilities. The farm has a herd of 1550 cattle, of which 650 are dairy breeding cows. These cows produce improved/cross-bred calves which are sold as bred-heifers (approximately 200 females annually) or veal/beef calves (males). The cows also produce milk which is sold raw to neighboring communities. Gobe farm also has a large feed mill which is currently not operational, and it provides artificial insemination services to farmers who bring their cows to the Gobe farm to be bred. The farm employs 87 people on a full time basis.

Purpose of Grant

The overall purpose of the grant is to help Gobe provide milk collection/marketing and feed to smallholder farmers to complement Gobe’s heifer sales activities. The specific purpose of the grant is to:

• Develop four (4) milk collection and service centers,
• Provide milk collection and marketing services,
• Manufacture feed and distribute the feed through the four centers, and
• Introduce automated milking technology.

The grant funds will be used to:

• Procure one milk chilling tank to be located at the Gobe farm, and to be used to chill the collected milk (2000 liters),
• Procure a vehicle (truck) and milk cans to transport milk and feed,

• Renovate a feed milling machine to manufacture compound feed for sale to smallholder farmers, and
• Procure two automated milking machines to upgrade milking practices at Gobe’s farm, introduce farmers to the new technology, and possibly to utilize one of the automated milking machines at the service center(s).