Ethiopia: Planting Seeds for Food Security after two years of War

published on 26 June 2023

Soil is the stuff of life – and it’s one of the first things to be affected by armed conflict. So Ethiopia’s first priority following the two-year Tigray war that ended last November is to ready the fields and resume farming. After the signing of an AFD and EU-backed project, the first seeds are being distributed again in the country’s Tigray and Amhara regions.

The last three months have been a race against time to ensure the supply of quality seeds to war-affected regions. The challenge: to relaunch farming activities before the start of the growing season in June and July, and provide rapid support to the most vulnerable farmers.

Thanks to the determination of the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) and the government’s agricultural offices in the Tigray and Amhara regions, over 3,000 tonnes of improved seeds have been purchased and are currently being distributed to more than 270,000 farming families.

Further reading: Ethiopia: Reviving Agriculture in areas affected by Conflict

It’s all part of a food security project worth a total of €32 million and funded by AFD and the European Union.

On June 20 and 21, the French Ambassador, Rémi Maréchaux, and Valérie Tehio, AFD’s Country Director, together with the Chargé d'Affaires of the European Union Delegation to Ethiopia, Stefan Lock, witnessed the first seed distribution, just three months after the project was signed.

It started in March 2023 with the aim to revive and boost agricultural production in conflict-affected areas of the Amhara, Tigray and Afar regions, and to improve agricultural productivity through the development of the seed sector and the implementation of agro-ecological practices.

The content of this publication falls under the sole responsibility of the AFD and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the European Union.