Impact of agricultural interventions on food and nutrition security in Ethiopia: Uncovering pathways linking agriculture to improved nutrition

Achieving sustainable food and nutrition security calls for multi-sectoral coordination mechanisms in implementing, among others, nutrition-sensitive agricultural interventions. Despite progresses made in evaluating the effectiveness/impact of these interventions in some countries, very little is known about the nature and causal effect of these interventions in Ethiopia. Therefore, this systematic review aims to provide evidence on the impact of nutrition-sensitive agricultural interventions and pathways linking agriculture to improved nutrition. Based on a comprehensive advanced literature search using keywords in various databases and setting inclusion/screening criteria, we identify 25 relevant studies conducted between 2008 and 2018. Overall, we find positive effects on knowledge, attitude, and practice of complementary feeding and economic indicators (income, poverty and asset accumulation). We also find an overwhelming positive effect on food consumption, dietary diversity, and food security indicators. However, we also note mixed effectiveness in relation to child anthropometry. The most important pathways linking agriculture to improved nutrition center on its role as a source of food and income, and its effect on food prices/market. Hence, enhancing community-based nutrition education, accelerating adoption of improved technologies, improving access to farm inputs and technical information, integrating farmers to markets, and boosting enabling environments and capacities should be emboldened

Improving Smallholder Farmers’ Income through Farmer Training Centers: an Impact Evaluation in Haramaya District, Ethiopia

In developing countries, agricultural advisory services (AASs) have been one of the key components of local development in terms of enhancing productivity and improving livelihoods in the face of economic, social, and environmental challenges. Nevertheless, recent studies have shown that the impact of AASs is mixed and that some empirical investigations lack methodological rigor. Furthermore, there is a dearth of context-specific empirical evidence on the impact of new approaches. One such approach is the Farmer Training Centers (FTCs) implemented by the government of Ethiopia to improve smallholder farming systems. Moreover, little is known on how best to design reform strategies for co-financing the provision of AASs given reductions in public funding. In order to address these issues, a household survey was conducted on a sample of 250 household heads in FTC and non-FTC kebeles of Haramaya district from May to October 2013. Using the same data collection instrument in both treatment and comparison areas, we generated data specifically for the purposes of impact evaluation. Due to the non-random allocation of FTCs and self-selection issues as well as the cross-sectional nature of data collected, we employ the propensity score matching procedure to estimate the causal effect of an FTC-based training on farm income. The results of the investigation indicate a positive and statistically highly significant gain of farm income (excluding chat) by the participants of the modular training, which is between Birr 9,557.47 and Birr 10,387.53 per household, on average. From the results, some recommendations on improving the performance of FTCs in impacting rural livelihoods are drawn

Vulnerability to climate change among maize-dependent smallholders in three districts of Ethiopia

Climate change vulnerability may differ among small farming communities and depend on combinations of multiple social and biophysical processes. In this study, we assessed vulnerability to climate change among maize-dependent smallholders in three districts of Ethiopia. Household socio-demographic factors, land use system, access to food, natural hazard, livelihood strategy and social network data were collected and subsequently analysed by the livelihood vulnerability index and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Vulnerability Index approaches. Results show that within the same production system, smallholder farmers experience different degrees of climate change vulnerability. This variation in climate change vulnerability is highly and significantly explained by very localized socio-economic factors such as household educational level, access to drought-resistant crop varieties, extent of family ties with social groups and local organizations, and quality of rural water supply and health infrastructures along with biophysical factors like land size and soil fertility status. It is, therefore, suggested that recognizing smallholder farmers' relative vulnerability to climate change provides a range of effective coping strategies that would help to better build household resilience capacity and promote sustainable livelihood development. Hence, policymakers and development organizations need to focus on better strengthening human and institutional capacity through enhanced education and continuous training on climate change impact, and efficient and sustainable intensification through crop rotation, fertilizer use, rainwater harvesting and farm diversification that increase productivity by restoring soil and agroecosystem health

Economic, environmental and social indicators of sustainability among smallholders in Ethiopia: Based on tool for agroecological performance evaluation data

This data article is a result of research conducted by a multidisciplinary team of researchers with the aim of analyzing agroecological transition and performance of agroecology in Ethiopia. It was conducted in four districts of Oromia and Southern Nations, Nationalities and People's (SNNP) regional states - Fedis district (East Hararghe Zone) and Miesso district (West Hararghe Zone) from the Oromia region, and Kindo Koysha district (Wolaita Zone) and Meskan district (Gurage Zone) of SNNP region. The rationale behind generating this dataset lies on the fact that there is scanty empirical evidence on the multidimensional performance of agroecology in the country. Available evidence only provides data on limited indicators of sustainability. Hence, there is a lack of comprehensive data on the economic, environmental and social indicators of sustainability and agroecological transition in the context of smallholder farming systems in the country. To fill this gap, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) commissioned a consultancy project that employed the Tool for Agroecological Performance Evaluation (TAPE) to assess several dimensions and indicators of agroecological transitions and generate globally comparable data. A random sample of 619 farms were selected from 12 Kebeles (i.e., the lowest administrative unit), and trained enumerators gathered primary data based on a modified TAPE questionnaire using Kobo Toolbox. Participation of smallholders was on a voluntary basis and informed consent was obtained from the respondents. The survey questionnaire contained information on basic socio-economic and demographic characteristics, access to services and infrastructure, livelihood and Income-Generating Activities (IGAs), social and ecological indicators. Data on the 10 elements of agroecology was also collected. The collected data were entered into a STATA software, cleaned and analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. The outputs were summarized in Tables, Charts and Graphs. Since the data contained in this data article are disaggregated by study district, categories of agroecological transition, production typology and land size groups, this can foster the promotion of specific projects and programs that can address expressed needs of smallholder farmers. It can also facilitate agro-ecological based implementation of development interventions to encourage agroecological transition, sustainable development and food systems. The dataset can also enable researchers, practitioners and other decision-makers to make comparative analysis on the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainability. The analyzed data is provided in this data article. The raw data used to prepare figures is provided as a supplementary material. A copy of the questionnaire, raw dataset, and description of variables are available online on Mendeley Data

Status of youth access to and participation in development interventions: Data from agro-pastoral areas of east and west hararghe zones, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

The rationale behind generating this dataset lies on the fact that there are limited data on the status of agro-pastoral youth participation in programs, projects and development interventions by the public sector, NGOs and other stakeholders. Moreover, the relationship between youth participation in interventions and changes in their livelihoods has not been properly investigated, documented and shared. Traditionally, field-based research has focused on household heads and excluded male and female youth in many contexts. The unavailability of such data severely limited the capability of various actors to make evidence-based and informed decision. It also hampered the design and implementation of youth-focused development interventions. To this end, a survey was conducted among agro-pastoral youth residing in four Woredas of East and West Hararghe Zones of Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. A total of 398 male and female youth were randomly selected and interviewed using 12 enumerators and 5 supervisors. Participation was on a voluntary basis and informed consent was obtained from the respondents. The survey questionnaire contained information on basic socio-economic and demographic features, access to services and infrastructures, youth livelihood and income-generating activities (IGAs), and youth participation in programs, projects and development interventions, among others. The collected data were entered into a STATA software, cleaned and analysed through descriptive and inferential statistics. The outputs of the analyses were summarized in Tables, Charts and Graphs. Since the youth represent the majority of the working force in Ethiopia, they deserve a special attention. If handled properly, they can be a force for positive change. Therefore, such dataset is needed to help local level planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of youth livelihood transformation projects and programs. Since the data contained in this article are disaggregated by gender, Woreda and Zone, this can foster the promotion of specific projects and programs that can address expressed needs of male and female youth in agro-pastoral areas. It can also facilitate agro-ecological based implementation of development interventions. The dataset can also enable researchers, practitioners and other decision-makers to make comparative analysis on agro-pastoral youth employment, engagement in on-farm and non-/off-farm IGAs, determinants of youth participation in development programs and interventions, and impact of youth participation on livelihood transformation. The summarized dataset is provided in this article. A copy of the questionnaire is provided as a supplementary material

Global, regional, and national levels and causes of maternal mortality during 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013.

BACKGROUND The fifth Millennium Development Goal (MDG 5) established the goal of a 75% reduction in the maternal mortality ratio (MMR; number of maternal deaths per 100 000 livebirths) between 1990 and 2015. We aimed to measure levels and track trends in maternal mortality, the key causes contributing to maternal death, and timing of maternal death with respect to delivery. METHODS We used robust statistical methods including the Cause of Death Ensemble model (CODEm) to analyse a database of data for 7065 site-years and estimate the number of maternal deaths from all causes in 188 countries between 1990 and 2013. We estimated the number of pregnancy-related deaths caused by HIV on the basis of a systematic review of the relative risk of dying during pregnancy for HIV-positive women compared with HIV-negative women. We also estimated the fraction of these deaths aggravated by pregnancy on the basis of a systematic review. To estimate the numbers of maternal deaths due to nine different causes, we identified 61 sources from a systematic review and 943 site-years of vital registration data. We also did a systematic review of reports about the timing of maternal death, identifying 142 sources to use in our analysis. We developed estimates for each country for 1990-2013 using Bayesian meta-regression. We estimated 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) for all values. FINDINGS 292 982 (95% UI 261 017-327 792) maternal deaths occurred in 2013, compared with 376 034 (343 483-407 574) in 1990. The global annual rate of change in the MMR was -0·3% (-1·1 to 0·6) from 1990 to 2003, and -2·7% (-3·9 to -1·5) from 2003 to 2013, with evidence of continued acceleration. MMRs reduced consistently in south, east, and southeast Asia between 1990 and 2013, but maternal deaths increased in much of sub-Saharan Africa during the 1990s. 2070 (1290-2866) maternal deaths were related to HIV in 2013, 0·4% (0·2-0·6) of the global total. MMR was highest in the oldest age groups in both 1990 and 2013. In 2013, most deaths occurred intrapartum or postpartum. Causes varied by region and between 1990 and 2013. We recorded substantial variation in the MMR by country in 2013, from 956·8 (685·1-1262·8) in South Sudan to 2·4 (1·6-3·6) in Iceland. INTERPRETATION Global rates of change suggest that only 16 countries will achieve the MDG 5 target by 2015. Accelerated reductions since the Millennium Declaration in 2000 coincide with increased development assistance for maternal, newborn, and child health. Setting of targets and associated interventions for after 2015 will need careful consideration of regions that are making slow progress, such as west and central Africa. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation