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- Cash crops should be a part of any food security strategy in an area like Bati where farmers previously earned no income from agriculture.
- Further efforts are needed to improve marketing and processing of crops, beyond what can be done by cooperatives,
which tend to be neither strong nor dynamic. Marketing
and processing should be included
as key elements in future food security projects.
- Alternative uses for cassava in
the family diet should be explored and transmitted to the target
population. The possible development
of cassava as a cash crop
needs to be investigated and, if potential exists, promoted.
- Future projects should put a high priority on expanding irrigation, which supports sustainable income from crops and long-term food security. Projects should also make sure that women share in the benefits of these investments by encouraging redistribution of some of the irrigated land to women.
- The main focus should be on the development of irrigation using groundwater sources, which are more dependable at current low levels of utilization, rather than stream diversions,
which can have a negative impact on fisheries and can dry
up during frequent droughts. Rope-and-washer pumps and other means of tapping ground water should be promoted and local sources of
supply developed at an early stage.
- Since most of the land in many areas is in private hands, future projects should encourage farmers to expand soil and water conservations on their own farmland, and should provide support and incentives for them to do so.
- Local, rather than exotic, breeds
of cattle should be used for dairy production in areas in close proximity to Bati.
- Greater efforts are need in future projects to integrate women directly in all project activities, whether linked directly to their traditional workload or to tasks usually associated with men.
- Savings and credit groups will be more effective if linked with an established credit institution such as ACSI and also enhance income-generating
opportunities, especially for women. (The alternative of establishing
savings and credit coops would take too long and cost too much.)
- Women’s status can be further enhanced by making sure that they have access to credit to allow them to expand their business activities.
- Future food security projects should aim to help families increase their savings as a buffer. Linkages between the target population and existing financial institutions need to be developed to meet people’s savings and credit needs.
- Training needs should target those already engaged in business. Most income-generating activity training should be provided to women.
- Serious efforts should be made to reduce the time women spend collecting water and firewood. This would allow women more time
to dedicate to productive and community activities.
- An effective exit strategy for each area needs to be worked out in consultation with the local community.
It may involve transfer of responsibility to smaller groups or division among individuals rather than attempting to have the community
as a whole manage it.
- The exit strategy needs to focus on the sustainable use of protected areas, allowing local people to obtain income to provide incentive for their continued protection. For example, grass sales for dairy or livestock feeding or fattening operations can provide revenue to allow individuals responsible for the area to keep it closed permanently.
- A decision has to be made on who takes over project nurseries. In future projects, the establishment of private nurseries should be considered. Incentives need to help such private nurseries to develop and to provide the kinds of plants which the community
demands, particularly fruit trees which are in high demand. Nurseries may also supplement their income
by producing vegetable plants (tomatoes, onion, eggplant, etc.,) whose production is also expanding.
- Funds need to be available for key interventions in roads at the beginning
of the project. Without roads, infrastructure needed for training, irrigation projects, product marketing, etc., cannot proceed. As cash crops become increasingly important, upgrading some of the main roads may be justified to encourage entry by traders and to facilitate marketing.
- The graduation criteria, which have been in place since 2008, lack clarity. Further study needs to be carried out to come up with suitable graduation criteria, taking to account the existing reality of Bati woreda. This revision could serve as a model for a nationwide
revision of graduation criteria.
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