In a country where rain-fed agriculture accounts for nearly 85 percent of farming, Ethiopian smallholder farmers face significant climate risk, as evidenced by extreme weather events, rising temperatures, and declining rainfall. The Russo-Ukrainian War, as well as the subsequent wheat and fertilizer shortages, have exacerbated the country’s food insecurity.
There is still hope, however, as the World Bank has launched a new $600 million investment project to strengthen Ethiopia’s food systems and prepare it for food insecurity. Furthermore, on June 22, the Global Center for Adaptation (GCA) declared its intention to provide technical advisory support to this project.
The GCA, which was founded in 2018, is an international organization that acts as a solution broker to support adaptation solutions for those who are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. It will contribute to the WB project through two specific activities: assessing climatic risks to smallholders in 14 priority value chains in the crop/livestock sector, and identifying digital adaptation tools that can address these risks, as well as evaluating the prospects and constraints in their deployment in the country.
The expected project outcomes include:
- 2.4 million farmers adopting resilience-enhancing technologies and practices
- 15% reduction in food insecurity in program-targeted areas
- 20% increase in cereal and pulse yields in households directly benefited by the project
- 25% increase in agricultural product volume sold in domestic and regional markets.
