Project profile — Food Self-Sufficiency for Farmers

• Ethiopia (100.00%)

• Food crop production:
Food crop production (31161) (20.00%)
Agricultural extension (31166) (25.00%)
Agricultural financial services (31193) (30.00%)
Agricultural co-operatives (31194) (25.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (significant objective)
• Climate Change Adaptation (significant objective)

This project aims to help 200,000 women, men, girls and boys feed themselves by increasing their incomes so that they can purchase more food, or by increasing their ability to grow more food. The project targets farm-based families in eight districts in the West and East Hararge and South Gondar zones of rural Ethiopia who are traditionally dependent on food aid for several months a year. It provides training to adults and youth, both women and men, to help them develop the skills needed to increase their agricultural productivity or start small businesses, and to help them secure the necessary loans to fund these initiatives. The project also establishes or strengthens community-level groups, such as Production and Marketing Associations, to help farmers improve their access to the private sector and commercial markets, thereby enhancing their potential to increase their incomes. The project assists communities in working together to develop and implement community plans to address common challenges such as climate change and barriers to gender equality, which are both important factors that prevent families from being able to feed themselves. In addition, the project seeks to assist local government partners, including agricultural extension workers and food security officers, to obtain the knowledge, skills, and experience they need to more effectively plan, manage, and deliver agriculture and other food security programming which is gender inclusive and environmentally sustainable. The Food Self-Sufficiency for Farmers project is implemented jointly by CARE Canada and CARE Ethiopia.

The expected intermediate outcomes for this project include: improved enabling environment for achieving food security for chronically food insecure women, men, girls and boys; diversified economic activities for chronically food insecure women and men; and, improved resilience of women, men and their communities to climate risks.

Results achieved as of June 2017 include: (1) established 3,976 Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) comprising 66,000 members (65% female-headed households); (2) mobilized a total savings of CAD$1,432,090 in VSLA groups and disbursed CAD$2,470,660 in loans as start-up capital for various income generation activities; (3)1,127 government officials (zone and district experts, food security task force members, and Development Agents) have been trained on various subjects like monitoring and evaluation and gender mainstreaming; (4) improved agriculture practices in crop production, as well as the transfer of knowledge and technology to 26,745 farmers, led to a earned a total of CAD $6,361,718 leading to an average increase of CAD $224 more per household, per year; (5) 26,588 households have engaged in alternative businesses after receiving Income Generating Activity - Selection, Planning and Management training; and (6) utilisation of Gender School Clubs have had positive impacts in communities mobilizing to intervene in, and reduce early child marriages, and reductions in gender-based violence. This project is part of Canada’s commitment to climate change action in developing countries. The project made VSLA members significantly more resilient in coping with the impacts of Ethiopia’s severe drought by using improved farming inputs (seeds) and techniques; developing off-farm income generating activities; and learning and practicing conservation techniques. The project continues to work on strengthening links with early warning systems for disaster risk management. These results have contributed to improving the food security of targeted families.

• Proactive disclosure