Abstract:
Ethiopia is a country that relies heavily on agriculture and the agricultural sector is extremely critical for its overall economic performance, growth and development. It generates approximately 40% of the GDP and 70% of the export earnings. Over the past decade the country has posted robust growth in the agricultural sector mainly due to the strong commitment by the Government of Ethiopia and support from many of its developmental partners. The sector grew by more than eight percent during the past decade, doubled the total grain production and achieved food self-sufficiency at the national level. Nearly 47% of the country's 113 m ha land area is covered by semi-arid and dry sub-humid climatic zones, the mandate environments of ICRISAT. About 21% of the 12.56 m ha cropped area in the country is under the ICRISAT mandate crops - sorghum, finger millet, chickpea and groundnut. This figure increases to 45% when tef is included. Among the crops, sorghum is the most extensively grown while chickpea is economically important.
Despite the impressive growth that the country has achieved during the past decade, there remains a large potential to make agriculture more productive and competitive. This would ensure that farm incomes continue to grow and are sustained. Besides the gap that exists between realizable potential and actual yields, there are opportunities to be capitalized on, given the growing demand for pigeonpea, chickpea, groundnut and tef globally. To realize this potential, there is a need to improve the production, marketing and utilization of these crops.
This strategy was developed to help Ethiopia achieve the targets set in its five year Growth and Transformation Plan II (GTP II) for the ICRISAT mandated crops and environments. It is based on the results from a critical analysis of current trends in the production and demand for the target commodities, constraints and opportunities across the steps of the value chain as well as on insights and perspectives provided by various stakeholders. It identifies interventions that the research and developmental partners can jointly implement with the overall aim of achieving sustainable growth and improving the income, food and nutrition securities of smallholder farmers in semi-arid Ethiopia.
