IDE-UK receives £400,000 from Comic Relief to Assist Poor Rural Framers in Ethiopia to Increase their Income

Over the next three years IDE-UK will receive £391,870 from Comic Relief to work alongside IDE-Ethiopia and other Ethiopian partners to improve the lives of 2,800 rural honey and pepper producers in Ethiopia. The grant from Comic Relief will allow IDE to work directly with local smallholder farmers to improve their ability to lift, store and distribute water through the application of IDE's proven and effective irrigation products, as well as increase their effective participation in local and national agricultural markets to allow them to sell more of their products at a competitive price. T he project will support 2,800 poor rural farming families in Ethiopia, assisting them to increase their income and achieve more stable livelihoods, with greater ability to pay for food, medical supplies and education.

The project focuses on assisting rural farmers engaged in beekeeping and pepper production, directly benefiting 1,200 beekeepers and 1,600 pepper growing households in four woredas (districts) of the Amhara Regional State; namely, Jabitehnan, Dangila, Lay Armachiho and Dembia. The project targets disadvantaged rural communities, including vulnerable groups such as women-headed households, and people affected by HIV/AIDS, who can significantly benefit from increased income, improved nutrition, and increase access to medicine.

As a result of this project poor smallholder farmers will be able to increase their income and escape poverty through enhanced production, increased organizational capacity, greater access to supply chain structures, and improved processing and marketing of bee products, honey and peppers. Linkages between the value chain actors will be strengthened to allow rural farmers to access more profitable national and regional markets to maximize returns; the project supports farmer groups through training, technical support, capacity building, and marketing linkages to new markets.

The beekeepers and pepper growers will be able to better address constraints in production, quality, processing, and marketing of their products, and negotiate a fairer price through collective bargaining. The project will support and strengthen the capacity of producers and co-operatives to plan, implement and evaluate business activities. Indirectly the project will benefit up to 20,000 bee keepers providing additional income for other associated value chain actors, such as wild harvesters, input suppliers, traders, wholesalers and processors.

IDE's market-based approach alleviates rural poverty by allowing farmers to progress from subsistence agriculture to commercial farming, beginning their upward progress out of poverty, and enabling them to spend more on education and health. I nstead of distributing hand outs IDE works to create conditions that enable the rural poor to become successful market participants.

IDE-UK wishes to thank Comic Relief for its generous support and is looking forward to advancing poverty alleviation projects in Ethiopia.