Quarterly Report: January-March 2013 - Agricultural Growth Program – Agribusiness and Market Development (AGP-AMDe) Project

The program is a contribution to the government of Ethiopia's Agricultural Growth Program (AGP) and supports the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program (CAADP) framework by strengthening agricultural productivity and markets in high productivity regions, including Amhara, Oromia, Southern Nations, Nationality, and People's Region (SNNPR), and Tigray. AGP-AMDe contributes to four of the Ethiopian government's strategic objectives: food self-sufficiency, economic growth, improving livelihoods of smallholder farmers, and building agricultural capacity. The program aims to sustainably reduce poverty by improving the productivity and competitiveness of value chains that increase income for rural households. The target value chains are sesame, coffee, honey, chickpeas, maize, and wheat. AGP-AMDe provides technical assistance to increase productivity, enhance marketing, and develop support services for select value chains. The program promotes and markets new and improved seed varieties through collaboration with research centers, seed enterprises, farmer cooperative unions (FCUs), and other stakeholders. AGP-AMDe also facilitates international and domestic market linkages and the development of value-added value chain products while building the capacity of FCUs and agro-processors. Additionally, AGP-AMDe promotes access to finance and the enabling environment for agricultural development. The program has an innovation and demonstration fund that supports investments in innovative approaches to value chain development and agricultural technologies. AGP-AMDe works to enhance the competitiveness of select value chains, including sesame, coffee, honey, chickpeas, maize, and wheat, and to increase income for rural households. The program targets the improvement and development of support services, including access to finance, and the enabling environment for agricultural development. AGP-AMDe also focuses on building the capacity of FCUs and agro-processors to enhance their competitiveness and productivity. The program's innovation and demonstration fund supports investments in innovative approaches to value chain development and agricultural technologies. AGP-AMDe's results and achievements include the establishment of a coffee value chain activity tracker, a sesame value chain, and a honey value chain. The program also promotes the use of good agricultural practices (GAP) and the development of business development services. AGP-AMDe's cross-cutting activities include behavior change communication (BCC) and information communication technology (ICT), which aim to improve the productivity and competitiveness of value chains. The program's quarterly report highlights the achievements and results achieved during the period from January to March 2013. The report provides an overview of the program's activities, results, and results achieved during the quarter. The report also highlights the program's progress towards its objectives and the challenges faced during the quarter. AGP-AMDe's results and achievements are presented in the report, which includes the program's progress towards its objectives, the challenges faced during the quarter, and the results achieved during the quarter. The report also highlights the program's achievements in the areas of coffee value chain development, sesame value chain development, and honey value chain development. The program's quarterly report provides an overview of the program's activities, results, and results achieved during the quarter. The report highlights the program's progress towards its objectives and the challenges faced during the quarter. AGP-AMDe's results and achievements are presented in the report, which includes the program's progress towards its objectives, the challenges faced during the quarter, and the results achieved during the quarter.