Supporting the Agriculture Producers in Tigray
- petarj81
- Nov 2, 2023
- 2 min read
Story | 2 November 2023
Mekelle, 2 November 2023 - The field evaluation and learning mission to the agriculture projects financed by the World Bank, managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and implemented by UNOPS in Tigray was organised on 30 October and 1 November 2023. The representatives of the regional bureau of agriculture, UNOPS and project teams, together with 70 regional, zonal and woreda administrators, economic sector coordinators and experts have participated in the mission. Participants met with the beneficiary agriculture producers, who expressed their satisfaction with the projects, especially with the delivery of crop seeds and fertilizers.
As part of the Ethiopian Development Response to Displacement Impact Project Phase II (DRDIP II) project, communities in Sheraro, Aksum and Tsimbla woredas were visited, where the participants had a chance to see some large scale demonstration sites, soil and water conservation works, and selected crop production fields. The farmers, experts and woreda officials discussed with the participants about the project best practices and areas for improvements. The farmers expressed their gratitude and satisfaction, as UNOPS have managed to fully meet their demand for crop seed and fertilizer, while the delay in supply of urea fertilizer was a key challenge during project activity implementation.
Within the project, the communities from both woreda at Sheraro and Tsimbla were actively engaged on soil and water conservation works by constructing deep trenches, stone and soil bunds to rehabilitate delineated watershed areas. The participants visited these sites and the works done by the community. The community has raised challenges with regard to provision of training to participating farmers on the watershed works, and delay on payments for works done.
The field evaluation and learning mission participants also visited a cluster of Teff fields in Laelay Maichew Woreda, Hatsebo Kebelle. The communities, administrators and economic sector heads appreciated the support they got by the Emergency Locust Response Project (ELRP) project, while UNOPS has been awarded a certificate of recognition after completion of activities in Aksum woreda within this project.
