PROJECT SPOTLIGHT

Feed the Future Ethiopia Transforming Agriculture

Influencing and inspiring agriculture and food system actors to sustainably improve the diets of seven million people across Ethiopia.
2022 – 2027

Funded through USAID, Feed the Future Ethiopia Transforming Agriculture is a five-year activity led by RTI International with support from Venture37, First Consult, and WI-HER. The program is influencing and inspiring the country’s agriculture and food system actors to sustainably improve the diets of 7 million people, particularly women and children, living in 132 target woredas (districts) across the country. Feed the Future Ethiopia Transforming Agriculture is identifying consumer preferences for nutritious foods and is leveraging that information to influence and incentivize market actors to improve business practices, expand networks, and re-think norms, thus re-orienting the agriculture and food system to become more demand focused. Together, these efforts are making safe, diverse, nutritious foods more available, affordable, convenient, and desirable, while improving the competitiveness, inclusiveness, resilience, and sustainability of the food and agriculture system. Venture37 is leading the livestock production and food safety and quality activities under the program.

PROJECT FOCUS AREAS

1. Aligning Existing Food and Agriculture Supply with Demand

The activity is conducting research on food preferences and availability in Ethiopia to understand which highly nutritious foods can be produced in larger volumes with increased distribution to make them more convenient for consumers to follow healthy diets. Through engagements with small-holder farmers, distributors, and processors the activity will understand the barriers and motivations to consuming these foods.

2. Increasing Food Safety and Quality

The activity is working with various actors across the food system, including producers and processors, to increase their knowledge and practice of food safety standards to help ensure and improve food quality in Ethiopia.

3. Spurring Enterprise Growth, Employment, and Public-Private Partnerships

The activity is targeting local private sector actors to help them overcome barriers to doing business, drive innovation, strengthen capacity, and shift markets to better serve marginalized groups. It is making strategic investments and facilitating public-private partnerships to incentivize and influence market actors to improve business practices, expand networks, and capitalize on market opportunities that will create jobs and add more affordable, locally grown foods to the market.

COUNTRY CONTEXT

Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, successful agricultural transformation hinges on expanding access to healthy, nutritious diets, sourced from sustainable systems. It’s also critical that actors within Ethiopia’s agriculture and food systems can adapt to a rapidly changing socio-environmental landscape, including shifting demographic trends, socio-cultural preferences, and weather-related shocks.