The Ethiopia country programme seeks to combine existing support of Agri-ProFocus members with jointly identified needs and bottlenecks of farmers and their organisations. Lead member is ICCO.
In the country selection process, Ethiopia ranked high because of its agricultural potential, the APF presence and the hugh number of partners and activities. Within Agri-ProFocus two joint initiatives are already underway: the value chain action research addressing oil seeds sector (WUR, SNV) and the learning alliance on farmer entrepeneurship (ICCO, KIT, SNV, Cordaid, Agriterra). In this context, the challenge is to limit the focus to address specific bottlenecks.
In February 2009 the first steps were taken in Ethiopia with a visit to the Embassy and a meeting with SNV and the lead ICCO to discuss the country focus approach and design the next steps.
A first focus meeting was held in March in the Netherlands where 17 participants discussed the inventory matrix, an overview of all activities. Two tangible proposals concerning sustainable food production (ILEIA) and a value chain knowledge centre of excellence (SNV) were discussed and will be further developed. A third follow up meeting on access to financial services is scheduled, at the request of Cordaid and Terrafina.
Next step in this phase is the production of an overview analysis of needs, bottlenecks in Ethiopian agriculture (demand side).