Dairy, Poultry, Red meat, and feed are among the 10 prioritized agricultural commodities to be addressed during the next 10 years.
Dr. Fikru Regassa, State Minister of MoA.
The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a number of institutions and initiatives on March 3, 2022, to boost dairy research, extension, and development in Ethiopia. International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), National Livestock Development Institute (MoA), SNV (BRIDGE), Land O. Lakes (Public Private Partnership for AI Delivery), Precision Agriculture for Development (PAD), and Project Mercy are among the partners who signed the MoU.
The goal of the collaboration was to cultivate and expand relationships among partners so that they could work and complement each other in dairy research, extension, institutional development, and capacity-building abilities in order to further their particular missions. The occasion was attended by the heads of the institutions/projects, members of each institution’s technical committee, and the State Minister for Livestock Development.
“The ATI is designed to promote the transformation of smallholder farmers from subsistence to commercialized mode of production,” said Dr. Mandefro Nigussie, CEO of ATI, during the signing ceremony. As a result, the ATI has designated dairy as one of the commodities to be implemented during the next ten years. As a result, the ATI would view this relationship as an opportunity to supplement its capacity by utilizing expertise from participating universities and initiatives.” Finally, he stated that his team is prepared to pick up, sequence, and deliver the activities according to the schedule. Dr. Jimmy Smith, Director General of ILRI, in his remark emphasized that “there is no single intervention that works for dairy, instead integrated approach works very well. Thus, this partnership helps to integrate different interventions for greater impact.”
During his closing remark, H.E. Dr. Fikru Regassa, State Minister of MoA, stressed that “despite the large number of dairy animals in the country, the volume of milk produced per annum and per capita consumption are disproportionally low. Cognizant to this, the Ministry of Agriculture included 4 livestock commodities (Dairy, Poultry, Red meat, and feed) among the 10 prioritized agricultural commodities to be addressed during the next 10 years. Thus, it is important to collaborate and develop the sub-sector jointly. However, most of the partners operating in the livestock sector are working in a closed door. This initiative, therefore, brings diverse expertise and resources together, minimizes duplication of efforts and believed to contribute to the common goal of dairy development.” Finally, he urged all partners to translate this MoU into action.
Original Article Source: ATI
The views and opinions expressed in this information are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of BIE Intelligence PLC or Business Info Ethiopia.
DISCLAIMER
The opinions expresses here in the post "ATI Signed MoU with Partners to Enhance Dairy Research, Extension, and Development in Ethiopia" are those of the individua's contributor(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Business Info Ethiopia , BIE Intelligence PLC, its publisher, editor, or any of its other contributors.
