Meskerem Solomon, owner, of Azu Dairy Farm, was a smallholder dairy farmer and with support from a USAID agribusiness program, transformed her operation into a rapidly expanding medium-scale enterprise.
ADDIS ABABA (U.S. Embassy)–Meet Meskerem Solomon, general manager and founder of Azu Dairy Farm in Bishoftu, who shows off her Gouda cheese that she sells to a local upscale resort, commanding premium prices for her products. Meskerem started as a smallholder dairy farmer and with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) agribusiness program, transformed her operation into a rapidly expanding medium-scale enterprise.
Today, USAID’s Feed the Future Value Chain Activity is working with Meskerem and Azu Dairy Farm to further improve the quality of their dairy products and connect them to new markets. She is in the process of setting up three new shops in Addis Ababa and plans to hire six additional sales associates to help her dairy business continue to reach new heights.
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Under this project, and others, the United States is supporting Ethiopia’s goal of improving agricultural productivity while helping smallholder farmers like Meskerem scale up and commercialize their operations. With a focus on high-value crops like maize, coffee, chickpeas, livestock and poultry, and dairy, we invest in helping farmers adopt new technologies and innovations to improve the quality of their products and connect them to buyers in local markets. As a result, small-scale farmers like Meskerem have more reliable and sustainable incomes and are better positioned to invest in and grow their businesses, generating higher revenue and creating jobs in their communities.
Meskerem’s is one of many success stories of how the U.S. invests in Ethiopians!
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Source: U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa