Ensuring food security and land tenure
Project description
Title: Support to Responsible Agricultural Investments II (S2RAI II) in Ethiopia Project
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Co-funded by: European Union
Country: Ethiopia
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Agriculture
Overall term: 2019 to 2024
Context
Ethiopia is currently food insecure and suffers from considerable food deficits. In response, the Government of Ethiopia strives to increase the agricultural production and its efficiency, as well as provide employment opportunities for smallholder farmers and enhance large-scale commercial farming, especially in lowland regions. In the five-year “Growth and transformation plan (GTP) II”, the country has promoted investments in plantations and commercial agriculture. Thus, three million hectares of land suitable for commercial agricultural investment have been identified, while between 2005 and 2016 at least two million hectares were leased out, mostly by regional governments. However, progress has been hindered as investors only developed a small fraction of the transferred land, due to weak institutional and legal frameworks coupled with limited capacities.
Objective
The project has promoted internationally recognised principles and guidelines such as the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (VGGT), and Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI) to ensure food security and secure land tenure rights for communities in the context of large-scale commercial land investment.
Approach
The Support to Responsible Agricultural Investments II (S2RAI II) in Ethiopia Project is co-financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Union (EU). Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in partnership with the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) aims to strengthen the institutional frameworks and coordination structures at federal and regional levels in relations to responsible agricultural investment in the country. The project also supports its partner organisations in enhancing their knowledge and skills on land management and responsible agricultural investments. In addition, for land-based agricultural investments, the project has developed information, knowledge and performance management systems. Moreover, it supports local communities in securing their tenure rights.
Results
So far, the project has:
- Provided 30 trainings and validation workshops for more than 860 government officials, investors and Civic Society Organisations (CSOs) in Addis Ababa, Benishangul-Gumuz and Gambella regions. Trainings were provided on the following topics: VGGT and RAI principles; land administration and data management systems such as the Commercial Agriculture Management Information System (CAMIS), remote sensing, Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS) and other geographic information systems; environment and social impact assessment methods and procedures as well as contract farming models and templates
- Facilitated policy and legislative reforms regarding land registration and certification
- Developed various guidelines and manuals such as Social and Environmental Code of Practice (SECoP), contract farming manuals and templates, and Environmental Monitoring System. Additionally, translated and disseminated the VGGT and other subsequent technical guides e.g. TG7
- Organised two study tours in Germany on IT-based solutions for efficient land management and transfer
- Developed cost efficient, IT-based, open source software and tools for the management of commercial agriculture (CAMIS) and investment monitoring tool called remote sensing
- Successfully cooperated with CSOs on environmental issues such as land rehabilitation, prevention of soil erosion as well as deforestation
- Successfully cooperated with universities on the development of curricula on responsible land governance