The involvement of women in farmers’ cooperatives has increased to 78,000 people from 122,987. USAID Agricultural Growth Program- Agribusiness and Market Development (AGP-AMD) in collaboration with the Federal Cooperative Promotion Agency and Regional Bureaus is promoting and facilitating the inclusion of more women members in farmers’ cooperatives in Amhara, Oromia, Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) and Tigray states.
The women inclusion campaign aims to increase women membership to a minimum of 30pc in accordance with the Ethiopian government national target. Through the support of regional cooperative promotion bureaus and the coordination of partner unions in the four regions women participation has increased by 46pc on average between March and November 2014. Highest reported increase in percentage was recorded in SNNPR which saw a rise to 84.82pc. At the beginning of the program, SNNPR had 22,668 women member in farmers’ cooperatives which reaches 35,734 by the end of November.
AGP is a collaborative initiative of the Ethiopian government, the World Bank, and various other international donors, including USAID with an objective to increase agricultural productivity and market access for key crop and livestock products in targeted Woredas with increased participation of women and youth. AMD is one of the several implementers responsible for achieving the objectives set out by the AGP. Around 50 million dollars is allocated for the program.
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