ICARDA in Ethiopia
Priorities
Working in close partnership with CGIAR centres, the Ethiopian
Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), regional agricultural
research institutes (RARIs) and other public and private research/
development partners in Ethiopia, the research of the
International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas
(ICARDA) focuses on food and forage legumes, cereals, small
ruminant production and management, natural resource
management, and value chain analysis and marketing in dry areas.
These priorities are aligned with those of the Ethiopian
government’s Growth and Transformation plans and sectorial
master plans.
Progress
Several new high-yielding, abiotic and biotic stress
tolerant wheat, barley and legume varieties using
ICARDA germplasm were released by EIAR and
RARIs, significantly benefiting smallholders and the
country in general. Small ruminant research
adopting a value chain approach is contributing to
increased incomes and improved livelihoods of the
rural poor. Some examples include:
• New legume varieties have substantially raised
yields and production, and helped Ethiopia re-
enter global export markets.
• ICARDA Kabuli chickpea, faba bean and lentil
varieties are being promoted by Ethiopian
authorities, USAID, PepsiCo, World Food Programme,
Agricultural Transformation Agency and EIAR.
• ICARDA malt barley varieties are being scaled out
in partnership with EIAR, USAID, Asela malt
factory and breweries.
• ICARDA and CIMMYT rust resistant wheat
varieties are being scaled out, replacing
susceptible varieties.
• The ICARDA watershed management site is being
used as a training site for the Amhara region.
• Six functional community-based breeding
programs are providing genetically improved rams
and bucks to about 1250 households resulting in
increased flock productivity.
• Profitable sheep fattening systems targeting
festivity markets are being developed with 200
smallholders at four sites.
Pictures
Partners
BOKU University, bureaus of agriculture, Ethiopian
Biodiversity Institute, EIAR, Farm Africa, farmers, farmer
unions, International Maize and Wheat Improvement
Center, International Livestock Research Institute,
Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources,
public seed enterprises, RARIs, state and private farms.
CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food secure future
Ongoing research activities
• Improving and stabilizing wheat yields for smallholders amid
climate change
• Taking advantage of market opportunities through the
deployment of malt barley varieties and associated seed
technologies in the Ethiopian highlands
• Enhancing food and nutrition security, and increasing incomes,
through increased small ruminant (sheep and goats) productivity
and pro-poor value chains
• Enhancing sustainable food and nutrition security, and
increasing incomes, through the narrowing of yield gaps of
food legumes (chickpea, faba bean and lentils)
• Strengthening cereal-legume (barley-faba bean) cropping
systems for smallholder farmers in highlands
• Narrowing the yield gaps in barley in bimodal highlands
• Reducing land degradation and farmer vulnerability to climate
change in highland dry areas of northwestern Ethiopia
• Estimating and alleviating post-harvest loss of tef (Eragrostis tef)
• Managing on-farm biosecurity risk through pre-emptive
breeding (field pea and lentil)
EIAR
This poster is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Licence. March 2016