IDE Canada

Published purpose

This project seeks to increase the incomes of 1,000 marginal smallholder farmers by an average of $200 a year. It promotes the diversification of crop production to include high-value vegetables as a second crop. It uses effective and affordable micro-irrigation technology such as simple treadle pumps and drip irrigation kits, coupled with skilled use of fertilizers and proven seed stocks. The project aims to put in place a sustainable commercial supply of affordable micro-irrigation equipment, to train farmers in the new methodology, and to provide them with access to microloans to initiate the diversification of their agricultural production. It also aims to strengthen existing marketing cooperatives and to establish new marketing cooperatives and collection centres. The project is located in the Bacho district, south-west of Addis Ababa. Lessons learned from a larger adjacent project are used in the planning of this new project.