PROGRESS REPORT

4 PROGRESS REPORT
5
A MESSAGE FROM THE
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE
A MESSAGE FROM THE
CEO OF THE ATA
Prior to the early 1990s, Ethiopia’s agriculture sector had remained largely unchanged for centuries.
Despite significant progress over the past 25 years, the vast majority of agricultural production is still
conducted by subsistence based smallholder farmers. The Government of Ethiopia (GoE) has long
recognized that – as a still primarily agrarian economy – increasing the production and productivity of
smallholder farmers can have a positive domino effect on employment, incomes and poverty reduction.
The GoE has also recognized that the development of the agriculture sector is critical in order to realize
growth in the industrial and manufacturing sectors as well. As a result, Ethiopia has consistently invested
in developing its agriculture sector, dedicating at least 10% of government spending to agriculture since
2003. The country has begun reaping the benefits of such investments, with agricultural growth rates
averaging above 7% per year over the past decade. However we also understand that such fast growth
rates may become difficult to maintain or accelerate as the sector increases in size and complexity.
As such, the Government of Ethiopia has developed the Agricultural Transformation Agenda as a
systematic, multi-stakeholder approach to identify and prioritize the main drivers of agricultural change in
Ethiopia. By taking such an approach, Ethiopia hopes not only to maintain the growth rates seen in the
agriculture sector over the past decade but to actually accelerate them to double digit levels in the coming
decade. This approach involves prioritizing those activities that have the greatest potential to transform
the agriculture sector, investing the necessary resources into these interventions, and engaging all key
stakeholders to execute them effectively. Owned largely by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Regional
Bureaus of Agriculture, the Transformation Agenda requires close alignment and commitment of all key
stakeholders in order to produce successful results.
Structural transformation of this kind has already begun in Ethiopia. Overall production and yields of cereal
crops, for example, have doubled in the last 10 years. The agro-processing industry is also expanding
quickly, with examples such as chickpea processing, barley malting, and sesame hulling offering
investment opportunities for the private sector and market sinks for smallholder farmers. Efforts are also
underway to strengthen the research and extension systems in order to introduce new technologies and
farming techniques to smallholders in a more accessible manner.
The ultimate goal is for Ethiopia to reach middle income country status by 2025. Doing so requires
developing clear and measurable growth targets, identifying critical challenges to growth, and enhancing
the capacity of stakeholders to produce tangible results. Utilizing the objectives and targets of the GTP I
as its foundation, the Transformation Agenda prioritizes the removal of bottlenecks that stand in the way of
achieving these national goals while mobilizing the critical stakeholders to implement interventions most
effectively.
The Ministry of Agriculture is optimistic that the deliverables in the Transformation Agenda, coordinated
and supported by a dedicated body – the Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) – will substantially
boost agricultural growth and catalyze the transformation of the sector. In this way, agriculture can serve
as a major pillar for Ethiopia’s economic development in the years to come.
Tefera Derbew
Minister of Agriculture, FDRE
Agriculture has played a considerable role in Ethiopia’s rapid economic growth over the last ten years.
It is expected to play an even greater role in the coming years as Ethiopia consolidates its food security
gains and expands its footprint in the global economy with value-added exports, many of which will be
agriculture based. This requires a transformation of the sector from its traditional subsistence orientation
to one that is market focused and more commercialized, albeit still based on smallholder farming.
Established in 2011, the ATA works with all key stakeholders in the agriculture sector to catalyze the
transformation process by focusing on a targeted set of critical deliverables in a Transformation Agenda.
The ATA’s inception phase has afforded many challenges, learnings and successes. The primary success
during this inception phase has been in proving the model and institutionalizing the Transformation Agenda
concept with all key stakeholders and within government structures.
During GTP I, the Transformation Agenda has included 84 deliverables that have been prioritized as critical
to addressing the systemic bottlenecks in the agriculture sector. Overall, 53% of these deliverables were
considered to be “On Track,” with 35% “Slightly Delayed” and 12% “Significantly Delayed.”
As detailed further in this Progress Report, considerable achievements have been realized in many of
these deliverables. On a consolidated level, the 84 deliverables have contributed to the revision of three
policies/proclamations and the development, release and implementation of 23 different sub-sector
strategies. In addition, 70 new innovative approaches/concepts have been introduced, 23 of which
have been scaled-up. In terms of reaching farmers, the national extension system has been leveraged
to introduce technologies prioritized by the Transformation Agenda deliverables to over 4.4 million
smallholder farmers who have applied these technologies on nearly 2.2 million hectares of land.
More specifically, a few key deliverables have begun to completely transform the nature of Ethiopia’s
agriculture sector. These include: the introduction of the innovative “TIRR” package for planting tef,
presently being implemented by nearly 2 million farmers and contributing to a 38% increase in national tef
productivity over the past four years; and the EthioSIS soil mapping deliverable which has revolutionized
fertilizer application by moving from a blanket application of DAP and urea to more targeted applications of
blended fertilizers based on the particular soil nutrient needs of specific geographies.
The successes achieved by these and other deliverables in the Transformation Agenda are due to
concerted and coordinated efforts by all key stakeholders in the sector, including public, private and civil
society organizations. Our development partners have been essential to the process by providing critical
thought partnership and financially supporting many deliverables. The role of Development Agents and
regional, woreda and kebele level officials must also be highly appreciated.
Ultimately, however, the major effort of transforming Ethiopia’s agriculture sector has and will continue
to relyon the ingenuity and hard work of our smallholder farmers. They are the backbone of the country’s
agricultural system. The Transformation Agenda must serve and support these farmers to feed not only
their families but also the rest of the country.
Khalid Bomba
Chief Executive Officer, ATA