Ethiopia

The longitudinal study synthesized in this report is the result of a 4-year collaboration between IDS, Oxfam and research partners. The research was carried out between 2012 and 2015 and involved annual visits to communities in 23 rural, urban and peri-urban sites, along with commissioned reviews of national-level prices and policies over the period. The social, economic and political adjustments made by people in developing countries in the wake of the global food crisis are the focus of this report. »

This literature review provides a holistic perspective of the stock and interaction between the capitals required by men and women farmers for effective engagement in agricultural intensification in Ethiopia. Although land reform has enhanced women’s access to land, participation in decision-making and asset control are yet to be achieved. »

This book by UNU-WIDER comprehensively evaluates trends in living conditions in 16 major sub-Saharan African countries, corresponding to nearly 75% of the total population. An important message from ten of the countries they looked at is that there are potentially high returns to policies that take agriculture seriously. Countries that place a particular emphasis on upgrading the capabilities of small-scale farmers are more likely to achieve broad-based development objectives. »

This report addresses various recommendations to deal with the current El Nino and the forecast of La Nina. According to Oxfam, El Nino was a broadly preventable crisis and the severity of El Nino’s impacts is a reflection of the world’s failure to provide comprehensive and long-term strategies to anticipate, prepare and adapt. To end this cycle of failure, there is an urgent need for humanitarian action where the situation is already dire, to prepare for La Niña later this year, to commit to comprehensive new measures to build communities’ resilience, and to mobilize global action to address climate change. »

This article by Tekalign Mamo of the Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) describes the succes of the Ethiopian Soil Information System (EthioSIS) project. The initiative started in 2012 and is a first-of-its-kind initiative in Africa. EthioSIS uses remote sensing satellite technology and extensive soil sampling to provide high-resolution soil fertility mapping. The enormous soil analysis data generated, together with satellite imagery, are now being used to create the first country-specific digital soil fertility atlas in Africa.Based on this, experts can identify the types of fertilisers to recommend to farmers. Ethiopia’s extensive study of soil fertility and the resulting fertiliser recommendations can serve as an example to other African nations. »

Global Open Data for Agriculture & Nutrition (GODAN), published its first issue of the Success Stories brochure (PDF). In this issue, fifteen success stories are shared on the use of open data for agriculture and nutrition. GODAN supports the proactive sharing of open data to make information about agriculture and nutrition available, accessible and usable to deal with the urgent challenge of ensuring world food security. »