Germany Grants €25mln to Ethiopia’s Rural Value Chain Project

ADDIS ABABA – Germany has granted 25 million euros in support of Ethiopia’s agricultural productivity and value chain project.

The grant agreement was signed at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance of Ethiopia on Friday.

The grant will fund the implementation of a “Strengthening Rural Value Chains in Ethiopia” project in East Gojjam and Arsi Zones.

The Ministry of Finance (NoF) says the purpose of the Project is to improve productivity and market access in two zones in a climate-smart and ecologically sustainable way.

It will particularly target cereal and legume producing farmers within high-potential rainfed farming systems.

The farmers will get access to inputs such as seed, mechanization, and information systems, as well as services by actors critical for functioning value chain linkages, the MoF says.

Research institutes, cooperatives, Agricultural Transformation Institute, seed enterprises, and the private sector are among the actors in the value chain.

The grant agreement supporting the project was signed by State Minister of Finance Semereta Sewasew, and KfW Development Bank’s East Africa Director Christoph Tiskens, on behalf of Germany.

It is the second grant deal the two countries signed in two weeks. The first €21 million grant will support Ethiopia to increase its equity in the African Trade and Investment Development Insurance (ATIDI), a pan-African investment risk solution provider.