2006 ANNUAL REPORT & PROGRAMME REPORT ... - Prolinnova

In terms of documentation and dissemination, 95 new local innovations were documented,
60 innovations were published in a book, with 3000 copies distributed. In addition 12 issues
of a 28-page farmer magazine were produced and distributed.
In 2006, PROLINNOVA Cambodia hosted the annual PROLINNOVA International partners’
meeting, which brought together partners from all country programmes and international
support organisations (see Chapter 2). It used the presence of partners form other countries
to organise a session hosted by the Minister of Agriculture introducing PROLINNOVA and PID
to staff of the ministry as well as other Phnom Penh-based organisations. Since than, the
minister has been found stressing the importance of farmers own initiatives in some of his
public addresses.
Finally, a National Workshop on PID was conducted late in December, in Prey Veng.
Inaugurated by the Under Secretary of State for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries and the State Governor, it aimed to reassess the progress made by the programme
over the last three years, and elaborate a strategic plan for 2007-2010. The event was
attended by 65 participants from organisations that are partners of PROLINNOVA Cambodia.
1.3 Ethiopia
Institutional set-up
PROFIEET (Promoting Farmer Innovation and Experimentation in Ethiopia) is the name
under which the PROLINNOVA programme operates in this country. A National Steering
Committee (NSC) oversees programme implementation, while the coordinating NGO is ASE
(Agri-Service Ethiopia).
The NSC of PROFIEET is made up of major stakeholders involved in agricultural research
and development in Ethiopia, with the exception of crop farmers: the Ministry of Agriculture,
the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organisation, the Commission for Science and
Technology, Mekelle and Alemaya Universities, the Institute for Sustainable Development,
SOS-Sahel, FARM-Africa, the Pastoral Forum Ethiopia and ASE. The NSC members serve
primarily as an oversight committee, while the platform coordinator (ASE) carries out the
routine tasks.
PROFIEET has divided the country into four distinct agro-ecological and social settings. The
purpose of making this division was to help stakeholders focus on the major commodities
and farming systems of each area as well as to use this classification for the formation of
regional platforms. These regional platforms are relatively autonomous, implementing their
own activities under regional supervision. The four zones identified by the NSC are: Typical
Ethiopian Highlands (two regions were selected from this zone: Amhara and Tigray); Coffee-
Growing Zone (including the vast majority of the Oromia Region); Enset-Growing Zone (most
of the Southern Region); and Pastoralist Zone (including the pastoral and agropastoral parts
of the country, among others, in Afar, Somalia and Borana).
Achievements in 2006
A capacity building and planning workshop for pastoralists and agro-pastoralists and support
organisations was held in January in Dire Dawa. A total of 21 people, one woman and 20
men, including 10 pastoralists, took part in the workshop. Ten cases of local innovation were
presented by the pastoralists. The other participants were drawn from various institutions: 2
from Dire Dawa Bureau of Agriculture, 3 from Harar Catholic Secretariat, 3 from Somali
Agricultural Research Institute, 1 from Worer Research Center and 2 from the NGO Action
for Development. Besides being a training course on Participatory Innovation Development
(PID), the workshop also focused on identification and planning of PID activities.
33196 PROLINNOVA Annual Report 2006 11