ATA, Mercy Corps to Establish Data Hub

Apr 4 , 2020


The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) and Mercy Corps' AgriFin programme have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a data hub. The CEO of ATA, Khalid Bomba, and the Programme Director of Mercy Corps, Leesa Shrader, signed the partnership agreement. With the agreement, Mercy Corps will support ATA to develop a data hub through which it will provide data-driven, holistic solutions to farmers. The data hub will also enable ATA to implement a digital management tool that will allow farmers to make data-driven decisions and improve existing processes and performances within ATA’s Farmer Production Clusters (FPC) programme. These solutions will ultimately be scaled up, benefiting the 2.5 million smallholder farmers under the FPC.


Radar

Horn Initiative Boosts Regional Development Agenda

A total of 20 projects worth three billion dollars are currently being implemented in Ethiopia under the Horn of Africa Initiative, which held a performance review platform last week. This initiative, established in 2019, seeks to economically integrate Horn of Africa countries through development projects. Finance Minister Ahmed Shide accentuated the initiative's goals of enhancing infrastructure connectivity, strengthening trade and economic integration, building resilience to natural and man...


Radar

Budget Woes Plague Region

The Amhara Regional State's six-month performance review revealed substantial budget shortfalls, achieving only 28.27pc of its targeted revenue. Chief Administrator Arega Kebede reported to the regional council that of the planned 71.65 billion Br for the current fiscal year, only 20.26 billion Br was collected. Despite this, revenue did see a year-on-year increase of four billion Birr. The regional state's tax-to-GDP ratio stands at a low 2.82pc, far below the national average of 7.05pc. Arega...


Radar

Modern Farming Boosted with New Centre of Excellence

The Agricultural Mechanization Centre of Excellence, built in the Qaliti area with collaboration from South Korea was inaugurated last week. The centre was constructed in seven months at a project cost of 14.7 million dollars funded by the South Korean government. It is expected to serve as a hub for inspecting, controlling, researching, and repairing agricultural mechanization machinery while also providing vocational training to develop skilled personnel in the field. Minister of Agricultur...