Environmental degradation in Ethiopia is closely related to the recurrence of droughts, food insecurity and declining farm productivity. Amhara is one of the most environmentally degraded regions of Ethiopia. Out of the total annual soil loss in the country (1.9 billion tons) about 1.1 billion is estimated to be from the Amhara Region. Consequent to these huge annual soil losses the productivity of the soil is reported to decline at a rate of 2-3 percent per year.

Poverty in Amhara as in the rest of Ethiopia is highly connected with vulnerability to environmental shock. This problem is more serious and pronounced in the 64 drought prone, food insecure districts where ORDA operates. The main objective of environmental protection is minimizing soil and natural resource degradation thereby improving land fertility and ground water recharge. The objectives of our interventions are:

• Enhancing community knowledge and practice of natural resource management.
• Engaging vulnerable households and communities in soil and water conservation, water resource development, environmental rehabilitation and social development activities that create public assets.
• Rehabilitating degraded lands through area closure, physical & biological SWC (?) and integrated watershed management measures.
• Introducing and promoting sustainable natural resources management and utilization systems.
• Introducing improved farming technologies that reduce runoff water and improve soil moisture, thereby increasing production and productivity of soils.
• Developing the capacity, skill and participation of the community in the management and utilization of their own natural resource assets.
• Developing effective natural resource management systems.
• Building efficient and effective natural resource management partnerships.
• Combating global warming, land and environment degradation.

The Amhara National Region is endowed with diverse agro-climatic zones that are ideal for the production of a broad range of fruits, including citrus, banana, mango, papaya, avocado, pineapple, guava, passion fruits, apple, grapes and more. Despite this potential, the horticultural crops coverage, productivity and quality are very low. The main reasons are:

• Poor quality of fruit trees which are low yielding and less disease resistant.
• Lack of public awareness, education and communication on horticultural crops management.
• Poor post harvest handling (e.g., lack of modern storage, packing and transportation facilities).
• Poor pest and disease control methodologies.
• Lack of appropriate agro processing industries, especially those which are appropriate for small holder farmers.
• Poor horticultural market network.

The overall objective of our horticultural development interventions is to improve the livelihood of farmers by promoting horticultural crops production in the Amahara region. The specific objectives are:

• Increasing household income and food and livelihood security.
• Introduction and promotion of improved horticultural crop management techniques.
• Introduction and promotion of high yielding highland and lowland fruits such as apple, mango, avocado, banana and citruses.
• Diversification and intensification of horticulture production.
• Introduction and promotion of appropriate horticultural crops management techniques.
• Enhancing market networks.

Crop production is the primary economic source of the people in the region in general and in drought prone areas in particular. However, in the drought affected areas, the crop yield per unit of land from the current agricultural practice is minimal and does not sustain most of the households for the whole year. In most cases households produce food that is sufficient only for 5-8 months of the year. This has made them vulnerable to drought and dependent on external food assistance. It is believed that food insecurity is a result of numerous interacting factors, which are retarding crop production. The most influential factors are:

• Recurrent drought and moisture stress.
• Subsistence agricultural systems.
• Lack of agricultural inputs such as improved varieties of seeds, pesticides, etc.
• Poor pest management systems.
• Persistent soil degradation and poor soil fertility management.
• Lack of capital for the purchase of agricultural inputs and technologies.
• Lack of awareness, education and communication on modern agriculture management.
• Low level knowledge and practice of moisture harvesting and irrigation-based agricultural development.

The overall objective of the crop production and protection interventions is to improve the livelihood of vulnerable households through increased productivity and production of field crops. Its specific objectives include.

• Addressing the basic needs of people which suffer from deep rooted poverty, hunger and under development.
• Enhancing knowledge and skill on moisture harvesting irrigation and watershed management.
• Reducing dependency on rainfed agriculture.
• Providing of equal access to basic assets such as land and livestock.
• Improving the availability and quality of crop seeds through provision and development of small scale community based seed multiplication schemes.
• Increasing productivity and reducing yield losses by introducing and promoting Integrated Crop Pest Management (ICPM) techniques.
• Promotion and utilization of organic fertilizers such as compost and farmyard manure.
• Providing rural credit access for vulnerable households.
• Transforming small holder farmers from subsistence to market led agricultural practices through the introduction and promotion of high value crops and modern farm management systems.
• Increasing the annual cropping index by improving the cropping pattern in both irrigated and rainfed systems.
• Introducing and promoting agro-processing facilities.
• Diversification and intensification of agricultural products.
• Increasing labor production and productivity.
• Increasing agri-horticultural production and productivity.
• Introduction and promotion of integrated agricultural development and management systems.
• Developing the market by increasing household purchasing power.

Livestock is the second major source of livelihood for the rural people of the Amhara region. Livestock is a source of food, income, natural fertilizer for the soil and a liquid asset. Moreover, livestock provides the power required for plowing, threshing and transporting agricultural produce & rural people. Livestock is also a more reliable means of livelihood for the rural communities in the moisture deficit woredas (districts) of the region. Despite being the second major and relatively more reliable source of livelihood for the farming community, the production and productivity of livestock in terms of milk, meat, eggs and power, are very low. This is attributed to:

• Poor quality & quantity of feed along with the practice of free grazing.
• Livestock diseases.
• Poor genetic potential of the indigenous animals.
• Poor management practices and absence of appropriate technologies.
• Poor market infrastructure.

Taking all this into consideration, the overall objective of the livestock development program is to increase the productivity and production of the livestock sector through improving the quality and quantity of feed, animal health care, livestock management and introducing genetically high yielding breeds. Specific objectives include:

• Improving quality and quantity of forage through the introduction and promotion of appropriate forage development strategies.
• Developing household and community based forage seed multiplication schemes.
• Building assets in vulnerable households.
• Enhancing provision of animal health services and decreasing livestock death.
• Introduction and scaling-up genetically productive breeds of dairy and poultry stocks.
• Introduction and promotion of effective livestock development and management systems.
• Developing effective livestock market network.

Because of the multifaceted problems of agriculture in Amhara, the on-farm activities alone are inadequate to generate sufficient income for the food insecure households. The inadequacy of the income from the on-farm activities is more pronounced in drought prone and food deficit districts which are the main focus areas for ORDA. Therefore the income generating and cooperative development component is focused in promotion of off-farm and non-farm activities that are intended to support households to engage in some income generating activities and augment their agricultural income. Specific objectives of the income generating and cooperative development component include:

• Increasing household income by improving non-agricultural employment opportunities.
• Improving and saving the culture of the household.
• Strengthening farmers cooperatives and self-help groups.
• Developing the entrepreneurship and business management capacity of vulnerable households.
• Expanding market networks.

Building the capacity of beneficiaries and project and line office staff at all levels is the main tool to achieve the objectives of all ADEP (agricultural development and environmental protection) interventions. Capacity building activities include:

• Ensuring economic, social and institutional sustainability and guaranteeing long term benefits.
• Provision of improved technologies such as improved seeds, farm tools, plough oxen, construction of grain and seed banks, provision of start-up capital for self help groups and cooperatives.
• Skill development training of target beneficiaries.
• Institutional strengthening of community based organizations, local government offices and civil society organizations (material, technical and financial support).
• Empowering households and communities to participate in the decision making, analysis, selection, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and management of their own development measures.