CIAT conducts agricultural research in Ethiopia in partnership with various Ethiopian and international organizations. Its priorities include integrated soil fertility management, sustainable land management through ecological intensification, and strengthening crop and livestock value chains. Current projects focus on beans, climate-smart agriculture, land degradation mapping, and supporting national priorities like improved crop varieties. Going forward, CIAT aims to better align its work with CGIAR and Ethiopian goals through stronger partnerships, gender mainstreaming, and exploring opportunities in forage and livestock research.

1. Partners
ILRI, CIMMYT, ICRISAT, IWMI, IITA, ICRAF, Ethiopian Institute of
Agricultural Research, National Bean Program of Ethiopia, Ministry of
Agriculture, Mekelle University, Addis Ababa University, Columbia
University
CIAT in
Ethiopia
Priorities
The goal of CIAT is to reduce hunger and poverty and improve human
nutrition in the tropics through research aimed at increasing the eco-
efficiency of agriculture. Current CIAT initiatives in Ethiopia include:
• Integrated soil fertility management. CIAT is involved in meta-
analysis of crop response to fertilizer and undertakes biophysical
point- to farm-scale cost-benefit trade-off analysis to guide site- and
context-specific fertilizer recommendations. This will also help
improve targeting of good agricultural practices at farm level.
• Sustainable land management. Through integrated systems approach,
CIAT and its partners are promoting ecological intensification that can
facilitate creation of multi-functional landscapes. By analysing
landscapes to identify land degradation hotspots for targeted
interventions, CIAT also develops frameworks and tools to guide
decision-makers and investment portfolios (Figures 1a and 1b).
• Agro-enterprise development and processing. Under the Africa
Rising program, CIAT research seeks to understand and strengthen
value chain linkages so as to improve agro-business performance
and opportunities for smallholders. This research focuses on three
crop value chains (wheat, faba beans and potatoes) and three
livestock value chains (large ruminants, small ruminants and dairy)
in Endamehoni, Basona Worena, Lemo and Sinana (Figure 3).
Pictures
CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food secure future
Projects
• Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance/ Eastern and Central Africa
Bean Research Network
• Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next
Generation (Africa RISING) program
• Tropical Legumes III
• Climate-Smart Agriculture Prioritization Framework
• Soil protection and rehabilitation for food security
• Land degradation and vulnerability risk mapping
• Climate-smart agriculture. Working with the Climate Resilient
Green Economy Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural
Resources, CIAT seeks to prioritize a climate smart agriculture (CSA)
investment portfolio for teff, wheat and cattle production systems.
CIAT also supports the development of CSA country profiles for
Ethiopia (Figure 4).
• Bean sector development. CIAT supports the development and
dissemination of farmer- and market-preferred improved bean
varieties which are resistant to multiple pests and diseases, thereby
increasing food and nutrition security, and incomes. These efforts
have seen significant growth in overall bean productivity and
incomes at national level (Figures 2a and 2b).
Going forward
• Aligning CIAT research and development to the CGIAR system level
objectives for real impact
• Continued alignment of CIAT work with national priorities
• Linking agriculture, nutrition, gender and climate change
• Mainstreaming gender and equity into CIAT research
• Building stronger partnerships (public and private)
• Exploring opportunities for forage research to enhance livestock
production, while tackling emissions through targeted mitigation
strategies
Figure 3: Agricultural industrial by products (AIB) in dairy and small ruminants value chains (Left: Faba bean bran. Right: Wheat
bran
Figure 4: CSA profiles and prioritization of investment portfolios in Ethiopia
Fig 2a-b: Trends in the extent of bean production, area under beans (left) and value of bean exported (right)
211,347
138,422
222,701
241,418
329,775
362,890
341,280
387,802
568,243
245,507
163,688
223,357
231,443
267,070
244,013
237,366
331,708
520,123
0
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
2004/5 2005/6 2006/7 2007/8 2008/9 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2013/14
Trends in bean production and area planted (2004–2014)
Production (tons) Area (ha)
0
20,000,000
40,000,000
60,000,000
80,000,000
100,000,000
120,000,000
140,000,000
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
8,146,125
20,220,954
36,229,556
44,747,590
49,048,10749,654,516
51,346,830
41,284,670
121,640,584
Year
Trends in the value of bean exports (2005–2013)
Revenue (USD)
Figure 1a & b: Participatory mapping of land degradation hotspots and exchange visit of successful SLM practices in Ethiopia
This poster is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
March 2016