Project profile — Improving Livelihoods, Agriculture and National Development in Ethiopia

• Ethiopia (99.98%)

• Developing countries, unspecified (0.02%)

• Water sector policy and administrative management:
Water sector policy and administrative management (14010) (10.00%)
Water resources conservation (including data collection) (14015) (10.00%)
• Agricultural development:
Agricultural development (31120) (15.00%)
Agricultural land resources (31130) (20.00%)
Agricultural water resources (31140) (15.00%)
• General Environmental Protection: Environmental policy and administrative management (41010) (15.00%)
• Other Multisector: Rural development (43040) (15.00%)
• Unallocated/ Unspecified: Sectors not specified (99810) (0.00%)

• Climate Change Adaptation (significant objective)
• ICT as a tool for development (significant objective)
• Biodiversity (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (principal objective)
• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Desertification (significant objective)

The project aims to increase agricultural productivity for smallholder farmers (women and men) in 18 districts in the regions of Amhara, Tigray and Oromia in Ethiopia. These districts have reliable rainfall and high potential for agricultural growth but are increasingly affected by land degradation and food insecurity. The project is designed to address these issues by supporting the national Sustainable Land Management Program that works with communities and local officials to develop and implement resilience-building plans. These plans focus on reducing land degradation and improving agriculture productivity through increased use of sustainable land management approaches such as rehabilitating degraded watersheds, introducing high value crop varieties, and building terraces and water harvesting systems. Canada’s contribution aims to benefit an estimated 252,000 women and men in these 18 districts. The sustainable land management practices being introduced include tree planting, gully rehabilitation, terracing, cut-and-carry livestock feeding, and building small-scale irrigation systems.

The expected intermediate outcome for this project is an increased use of sustainable land management practices by women and men smallholder farmers in 18 high potential areas of Ethiopia.

Results achieved as of the end of the project (December 2016) include: (1) 89% of targeted Development Agents (DAs) are confident in their ability to apply the knowledge and skills gained through project training in sustainable land management approaches; (2) 93% of DAs reported that they have conveyed watershed development principles to farmers, another 85% indicated they have supported farmers in homestead development and income generating activities, while 78% of the DAs supported agro-processing and value chain development; (3) a total of 95,551 hectares of land are under sustainable land management practices, treated with tree planting, gully rehabilitation, terracing, and other measures to improve soil fertility and increase agricultural productivity; and (4) agriculture productivity has increased for selected products, including wheat production which has increased by 92%. These results have contributed to increasing the use of sustainable land management practices by smallholder farmers (women and men) in 18 high potential districts of Ethiopia, and increased agricultural productivity in target regions.. The project supports the Government of Ethiopia’s Sustainable Land Management Program.

• Proactive disclosure