PROGRESS REPORT

48 PROGRESS REPORT PROGRAM LEVEL PROGRESS REPORT 49
Systems
Key Success Areas
Soil Health & Fertility
Why is transformation needed in this program area?
Healthy and fertile soil is critically important to
increase crop production and productivity for the
realization of agricultural transformation. In many
parts of Ethiopia, land degradation in the form of
soil erosion, nutrient depletion, soil compaction, and
increased salinization and acidity pose a serious threat
to sustainable intensification and diversification of
agricultural production systems. Many countries that
have successfully transformed their agriculture sector
have done so by focusing on the adoption of improved
soil management techniques and other soil fertility
enhancing technologies, with significant gains.
Ethiopian agriculture has been affected by the
degradation of soil fertility and health due to centuries
of improper soil management techniques. In Ethiopia,
the rate of soil loss due to water erosion is among
Objectives of the GTP I Transformation Agenda Deliverables
the highest globally, averaging 30 to 42 t/ha per year. 12
In addition, Ethiopia has the highest level of salt
affected soils in Africa, 13 while the occurrence of highly
weathered acid soils is two to three times higher than
that of other East African countries. 14
However, these issues can be reversed by increasing
the adoption of appropriate soil management
techniques and soil amendments by smallholder
farmers. In addition to the efforts that are focused
on restoring degraded landscapes and soil fertility
through enhanced agronomic practices, improving
the adoption of appropriate fertilizer use and other soil
fertility augmenting technologies, such as conservation
agriculture, are fundamental to improving the soil
health of Ethiopia’s agricultural lands.
Three quarters (75%) of the soil deliverables are on
track. Of these, major areas of success have been in
Deliverables 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13.
Deliverable 9: National Soil Sector Strategy
has been prepared by all relevant stakeholders
through a widely consultative process, including a
national validation workshop. The Strategy was then
endorsed by senior policy makers and released for
implementation. Since then, two new directorates
have been established to institutionalize a soil
information system and soil fertility advisory services
within the Ministry of Agriculture.
Deliverable 10: the Ethiopian Soil Information
System (EthioSIS) has registered unprecedented
success in introducing new and complex technologies
that support the development of a national soil fertility
atlas. Since its inception, this deliverable has produced
and released a soil fertility atlas for the Tigray Region.
Soil collection has also been completed for all of
Amhara and SNNPR, with analysis on track to release
the soil atlas for these two regions by the end of 2015.
Finally, the soil collection and analysis of the Oromia
Region and all other agricultural areas of the country is
well underway, with relevant soil atlases expected to
be released by the middle of 2016.
Over the past three years, Deliverable 11: Fertilizer
Blending has led to the construction of Ethiopia’s first
five fertilizer blending plants. These five plants have
initiated the production and formulation of fertilizer to
address site-specific soil nutrient deficiencies and meet
crop nutrient requirements. Robust capacity building
of the local managers of these blending facilities is
also underway to ensure that the farmer cooperatives
who own these facilities are able to operate them in a
financially sustainable manner.
Deliverables #12 and 13 are associated with the
development of a fertilizer recommendation scheme
and three integrated soil fertility management
package approaches, namely micro-dosing, nutrient
gradient plot, and nutrient omission trial techniques.
The national research system has validated blended
fertilizers and fine-tuned the formulations through field
experimentation, and established nutrient gradient
and nutrient omission trial plots. The critical levels of
phosphorous (P) and potassium (K), beyond which the
application of P and K fertilizers have no economic
benefit, are being determined. A new fertilizer policy
has also been drafted and is under consideration by
senior policy makers. The new policy encourages
fertilizer use efficacy, profitability, and access to
balanced fertilizers. In addition, micro-dosing of lime
has been piloted with the potential to increase nutrient
recovery, necessary for high crop yields in acid soils.
More broadly, feedback from stakeholders in this
program area highlight that the successes achieved
have been the result of certain specific factors.
These include: the commitment of all partners
and stakeholders in developing a strong guiding
strategy, clear objectives and alignment among
key stakeholders, and effective deliverable design
and planning through stakeholder coordination. In
addition, timely resource mobilization and allocation
by partner organizations as well as a supportive policy
environment were highlighted as other key supporting
features.
The major objectives of the Soil Health & Fertility
Program are: the generation of nationwide information
on soil content and nutrient-customized fertilizer
applications and addressing structural issues for
disseminating new technologies; facilitation of
the appropriate enablers for soil health, including
knowledge and finance; and developing and scalingup
improved soil health and fertility management
techniques.
Overall Performance Summary
The Soil Program has seen very good overall
performance during GTP I, with 75% of deliverables
considered “On Track” and only 12.5% “Slightly
Delayed” and 12.5% “Significantly Delayed.”
From a thematic perspective, deliverables in the Soil
Program are primarily focused on the Strategy/Policies/
Regulations and Introduction of Innovative Ideas areas.
Both delayed deliverables relate to development and
approval of regulations and guidelines.
On Track
Slightly Delayed
Significantly Delayed
12.5%
12.5%
75%
Deliverables in this program have contributed
significantly to Transformation Agenda achievements
across all thematic areas. Key achievements include:
implementation of a national soil health strategy;
introduction of 8 new institutional structures,
processes and systems; piloting and scale-up of
8 innovative concepts; capacity building of 1,663
stakeholder experts and institutions; and over 575,000
smallholder famers using new technologies on over
280,000 hectares of land.