The Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) has incorporated new livestock and Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) related advisory information on its farmers' hotline. The content, available in Amharic, Afaan Oromo, Tigrigna, Wolaytigna and Sidamigna, provides smallholder livestock producers with information and updates on improved production and management practices, and COVID-19 prevention mechanisms. The toll-free hotline was organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ethiopian Public Health Institute and Ethio telecom. It features dairy farming, beekeeping, poultry, and fattening of cattle as its major livestock categories. The hotline was launched in 2014 following a five-month pilot testing period conducted in 21 weredas of Oromia, Amhara, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's and Tigray regional states. Approximately 46.5 million calls have been received from smallholder farmers since its start. It had been disseminating information mainly on 21 crop types and a wide range of agricultural activities with a content length of up to five minutes.
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