Promote the Use of Legume Supply in Ethiopia (PULSE)

Country: Ethiopia
Project details
Services:
Capacity building
Climate-smart agriculture
Nutrition
Value chain development
Crops:
Legumes

Promote the Use of Legume Supply in Ethiopia (PULSE), 2021 - 2024

Donor: Achmea Foundation

Goal 

The overall goal of the project is to improve the resilience and livelihoods of the rural population in Ethiopia by developing sustainable, market-oriented pulse value chains.

What we do

The project will implement a range of activities which support the development of different pulse crop value chains, and which close the gap between smallholder producers and buyers. This activity is complementary to EUCORD’s ongoing BOOST project, which aims to enhance the productivity of farmers and the quality of the resulting malt barley.

Crop rotation of barley with pulses improves the sustainability of the farming system as it reduces pest pressure and helps to improve soil fertility. In addition, the proposed project will also select woredas in lowland ecologies to improve the productivity of specific pulse crops adapted to the lowlands.

The project has three specific objectives:

  1. Improved productivity of pulse crops
  2. Improved farmers' access to inputs and finance
  3. Improved farmers' access to guaranteed markets

The primary target group consists of 6,500 smallholder farmers with a specific focus on women and youth groups who can be organized into cooperatives both for seed and output marketing.

Accomplishments

  • The target of 6,500 farmers (1950 women) trained on Most Impactful Practices (MIP) has been achieved.
  • The target of 1,500 ha under improved practices has been exceeded by 844 ha (2344 ha).
  • During the 2024 cropping season 265 tons of seed were multiplied, while cooperative aggregated 129 tons of seed for distribution to members.
  • Buyers provided prefinancing to 2,050 farmers worth EUR 361,808 for fertilizer, seed and crop protection.
  • Agreements were signed between farmers and seven buyers for the sale of 31,250 tons of pulses.
  • A cooking campaign was conducted on common beans at Adami Tulu in collaboration with Melkassa Research Center for 39 youths, 18 women and 18 men (total 75 persons) participating.
  • Average yield increased from 2 ton/ha to 2.6 tons/ha, while household income increased by EUR 387.