Through the work of the Foodgrains Bank and its partners and other agencies in Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture has become increasingly supportive of conservation agriculture due to its benefits for soil health, improved moisture retention, decreased soil erosion, increased resilience to drought and heat, and improved productivity and profitability.
To improve the effectiveness of high-level policy support and further scale-up conservation agriculture among regional bureaus of agriculture in Oromia and Benishangal, this program aims to strengthen the capacity of government extension workers on conservation agriculture; increase the level of support for
conservation agriculture and enhance gender sensitivity of conservation agriculture extension services.
To meet these goals, the program will work with Ethiopia’s ministry of agriculture staff to provide a master training program on conservation agriculture implementation, conduct exposure visits for ministry of agriculture staff to visit conservation agriculture projects, create and distribute conservation agriculture resources, and provide gender training.
This program is being funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation currently in its third phase.