This two day workshop was organized in Nazreth and saw the presence of about 43 participants. In addition to the DCG Ethiopia members, there were representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Water Resources, the Regional Bureau of Agriculture, various research institutes, the Norwegian Embassy in Ethiopia, environmental NGOs, the DCG Sudan and the DCG Norway coordinators, the Ecofarm Sudan coordinator, and a representative from Noragric.
The first day focused on the Ecofarm project with presentations on the Ecofarm concept with some results from Mali, the presentation of the results from Ecofarm in Ethiopia and the presentation of the project and some current results for Ecofarm in Sudan.
The discussions were very animated and many challenging questions were asked. The organizers explained that farmers participating in the project and extension agents were also invited to the regional workshops that were held earlier. The local extension office was involved at each Ecofarm site in order to guarantee that the project will be taken over by them.
Another discussion focused on scaling up of the Ecofarm project. It was suggested that good dissemination of research outputs be conducted as well as synthesized output for implementers (manuals, etc.). A good linkage also needs to be made between academicians, researchers and the extension system. Monitoring and follow-up also needs to be conducted in order to get feedback and validate the outputs of the project. It was also agreed that only the proven technologies should be scaled up and that it needs to be decided where to promote the technology; in the research area or in a wider area? When scaling up, the idea of integration of the different technologies should not be forgotten.
Presentations were also held on the Ethiopian extension system, on REST’s water harvesting work and on the issue of climate change, as well as how to adapt dryland agriculture to climate change. These presentations were all followed by lively discussions.
Field visit to the Melkassa Research Centre
The two day workshop was ended with a half day visit to the Melkassa Research Centre just outside Nazreth. A brief presentation was given of the centre before we visited the agricultural machinery research centre, improved hybrid sorghum fields, and silk worm production.
Melkassa is one of the 12 federal research centers in Ethiopia and it focuses on dryland agriculture. The objective of the centre is to introduce and generate agricultural techniques while taking into account sustainability aspects and the participation of stakeholders. They also try to strengthen the linkage between research and development partners. They would like to collaborate with DCG and work together on scaling up technologies.
The research centre was also actively participating in the national Ecofarm workshop.