Recent progress and advances in the Ethiopian Food systems

Over the last two decades, Ethiopia has made significant progress in increasing staple cereal production to reduce hunger and undernutrition. Total cereal production increased 2.7 times from 10.9 million metric tons (mt) in 2000/01 to 29.7 million mt in 2019/20.5 Aggregate cereal crop productivity increased from 1340 kg to 2832 kg/ha, doubling the total production of cereals in two decades. The total area under cereal cultivation grew by 1.34% p.a., total production grew by 5.4% p.a., and cereal productivity grew by 4% p.a. since 2000/01. Maize accounts for 32.5% of total cereal and 21.7% of total area under cereal, followed by wheat 17.9% of cereal production and 17.1% area, sorghum 17.4% of total cereal production and 17% of area, teff 19.3% of cereal production and 29.6% of total area, barley accounts for 8% of total production and 9.1 % of area, finger millet 3.8% of production and 4.3% of area, and oats 0.2% of production and 0.2% of area. It is important to note that maize is the most dominant crop in total production, whereas teff dominates the area cultivated. Yield has increased significantly for all major cereal crops since 200011, which has helped increase production.

Design of the Ethiopian Food Systems

Ethiopia is fully committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and has participated wholeheartedly in the UN Food Systems Summit. The Government of Ethiopia, therefore, launched the Ethiopian Food Systems (EFS) process in December 2020 (which started earnestly from January 2021) to define Ethiopia’s vision and pathway for national food systems transformation, which will be presented at the UN Food Systems Summit. The EFS has been convened by His Excellency Oumer Hussein, Minister of Agriculture, and Her Excellency Dr. Lia Tadesse, Minister of Health, and has been built around a High-level roundtable discussion and Background paper, followed by two sequential national dialogues and a formal EFS launch:

The EFS pathway follows in the footsteps of Ethiopia’s Homegrown Economic Reform Agenda, which aims to transform Ethiopia from a largely agrarian low-income country to an industrialized lower-middle-income country. It has been carefully designed to both align with and evolve Ethiopia’s existing food systems policy ecosystem and critical national programs, including the Homegrown Economic Reform, the Ten-year Development Plan: the Pathway to Prosperity; Food and Nutrition Policy, the Ministry of Agriculture’s Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Strategy and the Multisectoral Food and Nutrition Policy,

The Disaster Risk Management Policy (DRM), social protection policies such PSNP5 (Productive Safety Net Program), and the Seqota Declaration, among others. The EFS also incorporates lessons from the Government of Ethiopia’s previous plans and programs, such as agricultural and nutrition plans, including GTPs (Growth and Transformation Plan) I and II and ADLI (Agriculture Development Led Industrialization).

Structure of the prevailing Ethiopian food systems

Ethiopian Food Systems are transforming, driven by a fast-growing population, rising incomes, rapid urbanization, development of agro-processing industries, and climate change. This transformation needs to be shaped in a way that increases food availability and choice, promotes equitable incomes, and supports the adoption of healthy diets. However, significant challenges need to be resolved to achieve these outcomes. Changing demography and rising incomes will increase the demand for nutritious foods, placing increasing strain on finite arable land. Furthermore, increasing soil erosion and land degradation need to be addressed through increased use of regenerative farming practices that preserve and restore

Soil fertility and reduce reliance on chemicals such as pesticides. Production needs to be diversified to reduce monocropping and increase food choice and the availability of affordable, nutrient-dense foods. Livestock production must be expanded to improve access to nutritious animal-sourced foods without significantly increasing greenhouse gas emissions. The growing agro-processing sector must be supported to increase job creation and access to healthy and nutritious foods, such as biofortified foods. All these transformation must protect and enhance smallholder fanners’ role and increase their incomes.

To feed and improve the health of a growing populace, Ethiopia must produce a more nutrient-dense food basket. Nutrient-dense food is defined as high in nutrients but low in calories, such as fruit” vegetables, whole grains, low-fat or fat-free milk, lean meats, beans, and pulses.’ Nutrient-dense foods contain vitamins, minerals, complex carbohydrates, lean protein, and healthy fats. Examples of nutrient-dense foods include fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat or fat-free milk products, seafood, lean meats, eggs, peas, beans, and nuts.