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Rural poverty approaches, policies & strategies in Ethiopia

The Government of Ethiopia has made impressive efforts to address poverty in rural areas. Since 1991 it has been implementing a long-term strategy of agricultural development-led industrialization, in which agriculture is an engine of growth. The government has focused on improving agricultural extension services, promoting better use of land and water resources, enhancing access to reliable financial services, improving access to domestic and export markets, and providing rural infrastructure. The government’s first poverty reduction strategy was the Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Programme, implemented over three years, through 2004/05.

A second strategy is now in place for the period from 2005/06 to 2009/10. It is the Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty (PASDEP), which has the objectives of improving implementation capacity, promoting accelerated and sustained economic growth, managing population growth, empowering women, strengthening infrastructure, developing human resources, managing risk and volatility, and creating employment opportunities.

In the agricultural sector PASDEP calls for:

• market-based agricultural development
• increased private-sector investment
• specialized support services for differentiated agro-ecological zones
• improved rural-urban linkages
• special efforts for pastoral development

The strategy includes investments to improve rural infrastructure, enhance access to financial sercvies, promote irrigation development, ensure land tenure security and improve the performance of agricultural markets. It will also support better management of the natural resource base, and efforts to protect the environment
With the strong support of development partners, the government has also embarked on major programmes to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and to assist the many rural households that have to cope with its social and economic consequences.
The government’s key partners in development, in addition to IFAD, include   community-based organizations and NGOs, the centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the Environmental Protection Agency, the Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, the National Bank of Ethiopia, domestic commercial banks, microfinance institutions and RUSACCOs and their unions.

Source: IFAD

Poverty reduction strategy paper (2002)