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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
COUNTRY SPOTLIGHT: ETHIOPIA
In this section:
Small Farms Get Help Exporting Beans to Europe
Aid Helps Farmers with Goats, Grain Banks, Roads
Health Promoters Bring Care to Remote and Poor
Communities
Ethiopian Women Candidates Overcome Obstacles
to Enter Politics
Small Farms Get Help Exporting Beans to Europe
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Women and children pick green beans at the Dodicha
Vegetable Cooperative. The beans will be sold to a local
exporter, who will sell them to super-markets in Europe.
A USAID project has helped link the small farmers to
overseas exporters.
Kristina Stefanova, USAID |
ZIWAY, Ethiopia—A few dozen women and children
pick fresh green beans in midafternoon, occasionally munching
on them. They fill their baskets, weigh them, and pour the
contents into plastic crates that are hauled away by tractor
to a nearby farm.
There the beans are graded, packed, and shipped to the airport
in Addis Ababa. In a few days, a shopper in a European grocery
store will be able to pick up fresh Ethiopian green beans.
Until recently, farmers worked independently on small plots,
selling their produce locally for about 12 cents per kilo.
Meanwhile, an exporter, Ethioflora Horticulture Farm, was
losing potential sales because it could not produce all the
beans demanded for export.
That changed beginning three years ago, when a $1.1 million
USAID project began helping farmers organize into cooperatives,
improve irrigation, and produce high-quality beans to sell
to Ethioflora at four times local market prices.
Now that the program is increasing production on small farms,
Ethioflora has expanded sales in Europe and successfully lobbied
the Ethiopian government to allow more cargo flights into
Addis Ababa.
“We had a lot of problems before these linkages were
made,” said Ethioflora manager Mulugeta Abebe. “The
farmers were not coordinating…they needed to learn how
to cultivate and use irrigation. All of these things were
not possible to do before, but have been done now through
ACDI/VOCA.”
Often when small-scale producers link to an international
buyer, they are unable to meet production demands because
of outdated technology, lack of skilled labor, or a shortage
of transportation. ACDI/VOCA—a nonprofit group that promotes
agricultural economic growth in developing countries—helps
them overcome these obstacles.
Ayu Deme’s life has changed since she joined the Dodicha
Vegetable Cooperative four years ago. She is one of 155 members
who together cultivate 68.5 hectares of tomatoes and onions
for the local market.
Last year the cooperative began supplying green beans to
Ethioflora, earning a significant profit. Ayu, 35, says she
is now able to send her older children to school, buy clothes
for the family, and purchase oxen.
Helping improve livelihoods for rural producers is a major
aim of the agricultural cooperatives program and the horticulture
market linkages program, which both emphasize linking farmers
to markets.
Through the $10 million agricultural cooperatives effort
that began in 1999, ACDI/VOCA has helped some 650 cooperatives
with more than 673,000 members.
Cooperatives receive technical assistance to help understand
and meet quality export standards, operate on sound business
principles, and learn to be market driven. In five years,
the value of food grains, coffee, and sugarcane sold through
cooperatives has gone from $1 million to more than $20 million.
One component of the program is working with coffee growers.
These cooperatives operate as private associations, providing
services to their members. One coffee cooperative, for instance,
helps its members access depulping and other specialized machines,
which help create a better quality coffee bean. The cooperatives
also help farmers fetch better market prices for their product.
Ethiopia produces some 270,000 tons of coffee per year,
nearly half of which is consumed locally.
ACDI/VOCA is helping cooperatives tap into international
markets, where coffee fetches a higher price. From an export
base of just under a few hundred tons in late 2000, coffee
cooperatives in 2004 sold almost 7,500 tons of high-quality
coffee to specialty markets around the world. In the last
four years, some $2.3 million in dividend payments have gone
back to Ethiopian coffee farmers.
For Bekele Mantala, a member of the Wottona Bultuma Cooperative
in Yirgalem, the additional income has brought several changes.
Bekele, father of two young children, now leases additional
land on which he grows coffee and maize. He bought land recently
and built a new house, leaving the old one to his three younger
brothers. And in July 2004, he opened a small shop where he
sells coffee and maize.
Bekele is paying for his brothers’ education and has
big plans for the future. “I need to improve the shop
and add products like grains and barley,” he said. “And
I can lease more land.”
Aid Helps Farmers with Goats, Grain Banks, Roads
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Farmers in a village near Sekota build a grain bank.
The Ethiopian government’s Productive Safety Nets
program, which USAID supports, is assisting farmers
to build better storage for their grains, diversify
their earnings by producing milk and cheese, and keep
bees.
Kristina Stefanova, USAID |
SEKOTA, Ethiopia—Birhane Melese, a 40-year-old
widow, has struggled for years to feed her four children.
But now, with six goats, she has milk, makes butter, and uses
the manure to fertilize the potatoes, pumpkins, onions, and
chilies in her backyard.
“If we have a problem now, we can just sell some of
the goats,” said Birhane, who received the animals and
help with her farm through USAID’s Relief to Development
(R2D) project.
Along with the Ethiopian government’s Productive Safety
Nets program, R2D aims to improve food security by providing
animals to the poorest Ethiopians, along with help setting
up financial savings, proper harvest storage, and income-producing
activities like beekeeping, so that they can survive times
of food shortage.
USAID has committed $400 million over three years to the
Safety Nets program, which aims to reach 1.5 million people.
This program is a cornerstone of the mission’s famine
prevention strategy. USAID/Ethiopia also provides $16 million
to NGOs for additional famine prevention programs.
In 1984, the hot, dry region around Sekota saw about a million
people die of famine. Historically, crops barely grow in this
isolated, drought-prone area of northern Ethiopia. There is
little access to markets, leaving thousands of people hungry
each year. Life expectancy is low, and treatable diseases
kill many malnourished children.
Two years into R2D, Sekota’s residents are seeing positive
changes. They have constructed some 115 kilometers of feeder
roads, making the district more accessible. Last year, thousands
of fruit tree seedlings were produced and planted. Two grain
banks were built, in which 291 farmers store sorghum, wheat,
barley, and beans to avoid postharvest loss and conserve for
use during lean periods. Six farmers’ field schools were
set up, where villagers learn about crop diversification and
pest, soil, and moisture management.
The Safety Nets program, started by the Ethiopian government
in February, takes the pilot R2D nationwide. It introduces
hillside terracing, watershed management, road construction,
and irrigation to all regions deemed food insecure. Direct
food and cash transfers are part of the program as well.
Wolde-Yohannes Allegue of Sekota, 47, says he and his wife
fight less over food consumption now, and his seven children
are eating a more varied diet. In the summer months, as food
runs out, Wolde-Yohannes works on other people’s farms
or looks for work building feeder roads, often getting his
pay in food and vegetable oil.
“People do the work for the food, but in the long term
they appreciate how they and their families can benefit from
the larger public works project,” said USAID Safety Nets
Adviser Judith Sandford.
Health Promoters Bring Care to Remote and Poor Communities
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Volunteer health promoters Bonse Hussein and Sitina
Bedhaos travel to different villages in southern Ethiopia,
speaking about the dangers of traditional practices
that are harmful to girls. USAID supports various projects
working with health volunteers throughout the country.
Dianne Zemichael, USAID/Ethiopia |
HOSSANA, Ethiopia—Masame Makebo teaches other
mothers in villages about five miles away from this southern
city how to keep their children healthy.
Makebo is one of 4,200 community health promoters trained
through Essential Services for Health in Ethiopia (ESHE),
an $18 million, five-year project operating in three regions.
The health promoters are community-selected volunteers who
work with health professionals to encourage basic healthcare
and immunization. By the end of 2005, ESHE will have trained
another 15,000 health promoters.
Ethiopia is one of six nations that account for 50 percent
of under-5 child deaths worldwide. Every year, more than 450,000
children die from preventable diseases here. So Makebo’s
simple advice on immunizations, breastfeeding, and nutrition
can be lifesaving. Anyone who comes to see her also learns
about the importance of washing hands before touching food
and about using latrines.
The current stage of ESHE, which began in November 2003,
works simultaneously at local and federal levels, with a focus
on strengthening routine health services—an effort that
is part of USAID/Ethiopia’s famine prevention strategy.
Results in the southern region of Ethiopia are already visible.
The level of child immunizations increased from 54 percent
in 2003 to 74 percent in 2004. Pit latrine coverage has increased,
as has the use of contraception.
ESHE developed training modules for its health promoters
based on findings from a household survey conducted in 2003–04.
Now health promoters like Makebo are at the frontlines of
healthcare, speaking at community health festivals and workshops.
Health promotion through ESHE is also being done over the
radio. A four-day workshop with radio stations, local NGOs,
and government officials last year developed radio spots on
children’s immunizations. Six spots have aired since,
and more are being produced.
Ethiopian Women Candidates Overcome Obstacles to Enter Politics
ADDIS ABABA—When Ethiopians voted in general
elections May 15, more than 100 of the candidates contesting
seats were women, many of them trained with U.S. assistance.
USAID provided $300,000 to Women’s Campaign International
(WCI) to support Ethiopian women entering politics. The candidates
received training in developing a campaign plan, public speaking,
building confidence, use of media, and understanding laws
and government procedures. U.S. funds also helped one women’s
group promote women candidates through radio, TV, and billboards.
Postelection training will be offered to the newly elected
women to help them understand parliamentary operations.
The perception of women as house-bound mothers and the lack
of support for women’s political groups hinder women
from participating in politics in Ethiopia.
But things are slowly changing. In the latest election, the
Ethiopian government committed 30 percent of parliamentary
spots for women. In the early 1990s, a Women’s Affairs
Office was established in the Office of the Prime Minister
to provide support for women. And in 1995, the Constitution
of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia was written
to guarantee gender equality.
U.S. Ambassador Aurelia Brazeal said of the U.S. government’s
role in Ethiopia’s elections: “The United States
wants to see Ethiopia prosper as a democracy, and we feel
passionate about the importance of free, fair, and accountable
elections. It is critically important that voters [and candidates]
have the information and understanding they need to participate
in the election.”
In March 2005, WCI hosted a one-day conference where 175
men and women discussed strategies to overcome challenges
women candidates face and increase their participation in
the upcoming elections. The participants drafted and signed
a five-point declaration to support women’s political
participation in Ethiopia.
In April, WCI returned to Ethiopia to offer two pre-election
candidate training sessions for 60 women. WCI also provided
a $20,000 subgrant for a media campaign through the Ethiopian
Women’s Media Association to highlight women candidates
and the importance of voting for them.
The May 15 general elections were reported to be relatively
peaceful and calm, with more than 90 percent of registered
voters participating. Press reports indicate a stronger than
expected showing for the opposition parties. Official election
results will be announced June 8.
Sandra Kalscheur and Dianne Zemichael contributed to this
article.
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