Ethiopia

This note by ECDPM in collaboration with FAO discusses the opportunities and challenges to develop regional pulses value chain in the region, drawing from literature review and interviews with key stakeholders. Pulses are crucial in nutritious diets. Despite opportunities, pulses production and yields in Africa and the Horn remain lagging behind potential. The challenges in designing a coherent package of policies and investments to boost intra-regional trade discussed in this note will also be useful for other value chains. »

This report by FAO presents a gender assessment of the dairy value chain in selected sites in Ethiopia: North Shoa Shewa (Degem woreda), East Gojam (Dejen woreda) and Gamu Gofa Arba Minch (Arba Minch Zuria woreda). The findings confirm that women’s empowerment is vital for sustainable dairy value chain development and that projects supporting dairy production need to increase their efforts to be gender inclusive. »

This article states that establishing links between value chain constraints and food losses is essential to developing effective alleviation strategies. This study focuses on the post-harvest handling practices associated with food losses in the sweetpotato value chain of southern Ethiopia. Household food insecurity is a chronic problem in Ethiopia; the situation is being exacerbated by high population growth rates and recurring droughts in the country. »

This discussion paper explores how the amount of land youth expect to inherit affects their migration and employment decisions in rural Ethiopia. By using panel data from 2010 and 2014 it is found that larger expected land inheritance significantly lowers the likelihood of long-distance permanent migration and of permanent migration to urban areas. »

This article, published by the PNAS Journal, presents a study that provides insight about the challenge in meeting the projected tripled cereal demand by 2050 due to expected population growth and modest changes in diets in 10 SSA countries, through scenarios of yield gap closure. Recent studies indicate that the global increase in food demand by 2050 can be met through closing the gap between current farm yield and yield potential on existing cropland. Here, however, we estimate it will not be feasible to meet future SSA cereal demand on existing production area by yield gap closure alone. »

This article describes the reasons why women in Ethiopian communities did not take up training opportunities. In order to encourage gender equality in delivery of varietal knowledge to male and female farmers in Ada’a and Ensaro districts of Ethiopia, chickpea breeders set a policy that each male farmer would bring along his wife to participatory varietal selection sessions. »