The Ethiopia-Netherlands Seed Partnership: one of SeedNLs flagship projects
Last month, the Stichting Wageningen Research Wageningen was launched. Several initiatives to improve the seed and horticulture sector in Ethiopia have been initiated over the past years, addressing food security in Ethiopia, and one of the initiatives being the Ethiopia-Netherlands Seed Partnership. But what is the Ethiopia-Netherlands Seed Partnership exactly?
Starting up the Ethiopia-Netherlands Seed Partnership
The Netherlands and Ethiopia have been working together in the domain of agriculture and food security. Given the Ethiopian context, with a deteriorating food security situation, it is expected that food security will remain a major issue in the coming decades in Ethiopia. Food security is therefore chosen as one of the priorities of the Dutch Embassy’s development cooperation program. In the long run, when Ethiopia’s development progresses, a gradual shift (both in activities and resources) is foreseen, from food security to agricultural growth; from agricultural growth to agribusiness and generally from aid to trade.
To promote agri-business with the involvement of Dutch enterprises, public-private Partnerships are established in various sectors. For instance the Ethiopian-Netherlands Trade Facility for Agribusiness, was part of the BENEFIT programme, complementing the strategy to support new sector-wide private sector driven initiatives, Ethiopian entrepreneurship and hands-on assistance to Dutch companies.
Roadmap for 2022
Also the Ethiopia-Netherlands Seed Partnership is such a public-private partnership, which officially started in September 2021. The mission of the Ethiopia-Netherlands Seed Partnership is to enable the private sector in Ethiopia to deliver farming men and women high-quality seed of improved varieties much needed for food security and nutrition, and climate resilience. This Partnership builds on achievements of ISSD Ethiopia, recommendations of stakeholders, and ambitions of the governments of Ethiopia and the Netherlands. Activities will be organized under the three components of private sector development, innovation and empowerment, and enabling business. Furthermore, the Ethiopia-Netherlands Seed Partnership aims to increase 150,000 households’ crop productivity and diversity by 50%, create 2,000 jobs and increase the area under sustainable agricultural practices. Furthermore, women’s access to finance, entrepreneurship opportunities, managerial and leadership roles, and life-long learning will be improved.
The Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Ethiopian Seed Association, Plantum, Resilience, and Wageningen University & Research (WUR) are the key partners of the Ethiopia-Netherlands Seed Partnership.
Looking for more information?
If you are interested in learning more about the Ethiopian-Netherlands Seed Partnership, please see the video below and find here the website. On the SeedNL website or LinkedIn page, you can find additional information as well as regular updates on the SeedNL activities.
Video produced by ENSP Ethiopia