The governments of the United States and Ethiopia agree to launch a new five-year Feed the Future strategy to invest in food security, build resilience, and accelerate economic growth opportunities in Ethiopia.
On Friday the two sides signed a declaration of partnership to improve Ethiopia’s agriculture performance and attain food security. The new multi-sector Feed the Future strategy also aligns with the Ethiopian government’s national-level development strategies, and contributes to Ethiopia’s vision of becoming a prosperous, middle-income country by 2025. Even though Ethiopia is endowed with huge arable land and abundant water resources, the country has not been able to feed its people and still relies on foreign food aid and spends tens of millions of dollars on food import.
Ethiopia is one of the 12 partner countries worldwide chosen to participate in this new phase of the Feed the Future initiative. Feed the Future has already made a tremendous difference in the lives of beneficiaries around the world, according to the press statement from the United States Embassy in Addis Ababa. Since 2013, stunting among children under 5 years of age has dropped by 18 percent in areas where Feed the Future programs are operating.
Hundreds of thousands of maize farmers are now using higher yielding seeds, nearly tripling production on average, and chickpea, coffee, livestock, dairy, and poultry farmers participating in Feed the Future have more than doubled their annual profits over the past year.
Over the next five years, Feed the Future will build on past successes in Ethiopia, forging new partnerships and greater collaboration among government, donors, and businesses to provide economic growth opportunities and improve health, nutrition, and resilience for millions of Ethiopians. Feed the Future will also promote increased engagement with the private sector to introduce new and innovative solutions to the challenges Ethiopia faces while opening new commercial opportunities.
“By combining our abilities, the public and private sectors of the United States and Ethiopia can help achieve the New Horizon of Hope goals of creating domestic business and jobs while increasing export revenues. We will work across ministries to improve the nutritional status of children and young women. Together we can strengthen public service delivery at the local level. Most importantly, we can strengthen the resilience of communities and families to all kinds of shocks,” said USAID Deputy Administrator Glick.
The United States has invested approximately $4 billion in development and humanitarian assistance in Ethiopia over the past five years to help people across the country lead healthier and more prosperous lives.