Preventing forest loss, promoting restoration and integrating sustainability into Ethiopia’s coffee supply c

Objectives

To support transformation towards deforestation-free coffee value chains and food systems in Oromia, SNNP and Sidama Regions

Other

Note: Disbursement data provided is cumulative and covers disbursement made by the project Agency.

Target Groups

The project is designed in line with the overall objectives of Ethiopia’s Growth and Development Plan II, in terms of which Government is committed to sustaining an inclusive and pro-poor development strategy to scale up poverty reduction and employment generation efforts, with emphasis given to engaging those sections of society that have not yet benefited from development efforts and a focus on women and youth to render the development effort more inclusive. The project helps fulfil many of Ethiopia’s policies that are both pro-growth and pro-poor, including the country’s emerging land policy, and the agriculture and rural development strategy, which promotes rural and agriculture-centred development as a mean of enhancing benefits to the people, with the woreda (district) as the principal authority overseeing rural development including agricultural training and extension institutions, and confirming the importance of enhancing women's productive capacity through involvement in production and development activities. The project’s interventions to enhance woreda (district) capacity for land use planning and agricultural (including coffee) extension, and creating business opportunities for women and youth in agricultural input supply, will help to achieve these objectives. The project will support farm households to maximize income on the existing agricultural footprint through sustainable intensification with better agroeconomic practices, as well as diversification into production of other cash crops, shifting from commodity coffee to specialty coffee, and value addition to non-timber forest products, thereby promoting rural prosperity and taking pressure off unplanned expansion into forested areas, including the valuable gene pool for C. Arabica in the coffee forests of the project regions. Promoting restoration of degraded forests and agricultural lands will help to maintain the flow of ecosystem services on which agricultural livelihoods depend, as well as safeguarding precious soil resources, globally significant biodiversity and important carbon sinks. Within each of the 22 project woredas, five kebeles will be selected for intensive support on integrated land use planning, agricultural extension support and participatory forest management activities, bringing direct benefits to an estimated 440,000 people. Indirect benefits will accrue to all the residents of the project woredas for which integrated land use plans will be developed, with capacity development interventions to enable full participation by all stakeholder groups at woreda level, and leading to better land use decisions and more sustainable land management practices, diversified income streams and higher agricultural yields.