Ethiopian Review

Addis Ababa — The Rural Capacity Building Project (RCBP) is striving to assist Ethiopian farmers by strengthening agricultural services and systems for improved agricultural productivity and enhanced capacity, State Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD) said on Thursday.

The RCBP is contributing directly to Ethiopia’s poverty reduction strategies by improving the profitability of small farms and related agri-business firms and it will also support generation of agricultural technology needed for accelerated productivity growth, the state minister said at the press conference held at his office.

RCBP is tasked with building human capital in the agricultural sector, both in the public and private sectors, through vocational training of professionals in agriculture; provision of agricultural training and services for farmers using participatory approaches; and continuing support for advanced training programs for agricultural scientists and educators, started under the ongoing Agricultural Research and Training Project (ARTP), the minister added.

He said the project will further assist in decentralizing agricultural training and farm advisory services to regional and local levels, thus making them more responsive to the needs of farmers, both men and women.

According to Dr. Abera, gender equality will be mainstreamed, bearing in mind the Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty (PASDEP) target of providing the 30% of women farmers in male-headed households and all 2.6 million female-headed households with extension services that meet their needs. HIV/AIDS and environmental issues will be taken into account and addressed as cross-cutting issues.

The Government of Ethiopia which follows an agriculture-led growth strategy has already made substantial investments toward improving the productivity of its rural people.

This included the establishment of 25 agricultural-oriented Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges to train Development Agents (DAs) who would be posted to Farmer Training Centers (FTCs) within the different kebeles.

The Minister said that, the objective of RCBP will be achieved through modernized TVET colleges which are more responsive to the changing needs of a demand-driven and market-driven agricultural sector; building capacity in the agricultural extension system while piloting new initiatives to introduce; demand-driven and participatory mechanisms, among others.

RCBP is one of government intervention programs supporting rural growth in Ethiopia.

By Fikremariam Tesfaye | AllAfrica