The Agricultural Commercialization Cluster initiative is a system that brings farmers together and produce the same agricultural products on selected ecology or farming field.
ADDIS ABABA (Semonegna) – On 27th June 2019 the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the Agricultural Commercialization Cluster initiative amounting to USD 50 million (approximately 1.425 billion birr, as of June 2019) in the form of grant with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands representing the Government of Netherlands at a ceremony held at the Ministry of Finance.
The signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the Agricultural Commercialization Cluster (ACC) initiative has the overall goal of commercializing smallholder agriculture through an inclusive and environmentally sustainable approach, which significantly contributes to increased incomes of smallholder farmers, improved access to domestic and international markets, increased agro-processing and value-addition and the creation of off farm employment opportunities.
The project will be implemented through the Agricultural Transformation Agency and its implementation period is between 2018/19 and 2022/23. The initiative will focus on geographical cluster of the four major regions of Tigray, Amhara, Oromia and SNNP. In terms of commodity scope, the ACC initiative focuses on cereals, oilseeds, and horticulture crops.
Mr. Admasu Nebebe, State Minister, Ministry of Finance of FDRE and Mr Thijs Woudstra, Charge d’Affairs of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands signed the MoU on behalf of the Ethiopian and the Netherlands Governments, respectively.
The ACC initiative is a system that brings farmers together and produce the same agricultural products on selected ecology or farming field. The system creates a strong connection between practitioners engaged in agro-processing, trading and other related services in order to address their common challenges and achieve their missions.
According to the Agricultural Transformation Agency, the ACC initiative has four major goals; which are increasing farmers’ income, facilitating internal and external (foreign) market opportunities, enhancing agro-processing services and increasing the volume of products that need value addition and creating more jobs.
Sources: The Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation and The Ethiopian Herald