Participatory community analysis: identifying and addressing challenges to Ethiopian smallholder livelihoods

Figures & data

Figure 1. Africa RISING research kebeles in the Ethiopian highlands.

Table 1. Location and characterisation of PCAs by region, woreda, and kebele, showing the number of participants.

Region and woreda	Kebele	No. of participants in PCAs			Altitude (masl)	Rainfall (mm pa)	Temp. range (°C)	Main soil types	Main crop	Main livestock	Market conditions
		Male	Women	Youth
Amhara Basona	Gudo Beret	19	15	13	2650–3350	950–1200	6–22	Vertisols, nitisols, cambisols	Barley, wheat, faba bean, teff, field pea, chick pea	Cattle, sheep, horses, donkeys, poultry	Well-connected to roads and markets
	Goshe Bado	18	13	12	2250–2800	900–1200
Oromia Bale	Ilu-Sabitu	12	2	10	2000–2500	750–1000	6–22	Vertisols, cambisols	Barely, wheat, faba bean	Cattle, horses, donkeys	Weak road infrastructure and producers experience difficulties getting to markets
	Salka	18	9	12	2000–2500	750–1000
SNNPR Lemo	Jawe	15	11	9	2100–2244	900–1400	18–23	Nitisols, cambisols	Wheat, faba bean, teff, maize, potato, enset, vegetables	Cattle, donkeys, poultry	Markets generally accessible but roads poor roads
	Upper Gana	12	9	8	2130–2400	900–1300
Tigray Endamahoni	Embahasti	14	9	10	2875	825	2–15	Vertisols, cambisols	Barley, wheat, faba bean, field pea, lentil, potato, sasula, irrigated vegetables	Cattle, sheep, poultry	Well-served by markets and roads
	Tsibet	11	9	10	3000	750

Table 2. Criteria for assessing household differences identified during the PCA by participants.

Criteria (or indicator)^a	Type of assets (or capital)^b
Area of land area cropped	Natural
Number of livestock owned	Physical
Area of perennial crops grown
Access to trees (especially eucalyptus)
Equipment owned including access to irrigation
House type
Annual grain production and quantity sold	Economic
Use of credit
Labour hiring
Standing in the community (including membership of self-help groups)	Social
Food security in terms of meals consumed per day
Education and health	Human

Notes: ^aCriteria varied slightly between kebeles, with areas of land cropped and number of livestock owned being key.

^bThree broad household categories were identified in each kebele (poor, medium, and better resourced).

Figure 2. Number of times a livelihood source was prioritised and described as stable, improving, or declining across kebeles.

Table 3. Main livelihood trends by region and kebele.

Source of livelihood		Trend	Main reason	Amhara		Oromia		Tigray		SNNPR
				Gudo Beret	Goshe Bado	IluSanbitu	Salka	Emba hasti	Tsibet	Jawe	Upper Gana
Non-agriculture	Trading (buying and selling)	Increasing	Need for cash	*		*	*	*		*	*
	Remittances	Increasing	Migration	*	*			*			*
	Eucalyptus	Mainly increasing	Increased market	*	*			*	*
	Labouring for others	Mainly increasing	Need for cash/food	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
	Making and selling local drink	Mainly increasing	Increased market	*		*	*		*	*	*
	Transport (equines)	Mainly increasing	Increased demand	*	*	*		*	*	*	*
Crops	Lentil	Mainly increasing	Increased market	*	*	*	*		*
	Sasula	Mainly increasing	Increased market					*	*
	Sugar Cane	Mainly increasing	Increased market		*					*
	Tef	Mainly increasing	Increased market	*	*	*		*	*	*	*
	Vegetables	Mainly increasing	Increased market	*	*	*		*	*	*	*
	Wheat	Mainly increasing	Increased market	*	*	*		*	*	*	*
	Chickpea	Static	Disease	*	*
	Coffee	Static	Disease		*					*
	Enset	Decreasing	Disease							*	*
	Barley	Mainly decreasing	Low price, disease	*	*	*		*	*	*	*
	Maize	Mainly decreasing	Low prices			*				*	*
	Potatoes	Mainly decreasing	Disease	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
	Sorghum	Mainly decreasing	Poor market	*	*					*	*
	Faba bean	Mainly decreasing	Disease	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
	Field peas	Mainly decreasing	Low prices, disease	*	*	*			*	*	*
Livestock	Fattening (livestock)	Mainly increasing	Increased market	*	*					*	*
	Poultry	Mainly increasing	Increased market	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
	Goats	Small increase	Increased market	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
	Beekeeping	Mainly decreasing	Poor market, disease	*	*					*	*
	Milk	Mainly decreasing	Reduced grazing	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
	Sheep	Mainly decreasing	Reduced grazing	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

Note: * = livelihood activity reported.

Table 4. Crop preference ranking for cash by men/women/youth and kebele (1 = highest rank).

Crops	Amhara	Tigray	Oromia	SNNPR	Comments
	Gudo Beret	Goshe Bado	Emba harti	Tsibet	Salka	Ilu Sanbitu	Jawe	Upper Gana
Barley*	7/7/6	6/9/4	7/7/9	7/5/5	6/4/5	8/4/4	6/5/5	–/5/7	Grown across all research kebeles
Chat	–	–	–	–	–	–	–/6/–	–	Only reported in Jawe
Chickpea	–	2/5/3	–	–	–	–	–	–	Not widely grown
Emma wheat	–	–	–	–	2/4/2	5/3/5	–	–	Not widely grown
Enset*	–	–	–	–	–	–	10/7/–	5/4/4	Grown in SNNPR only
Faba bean	4/5/4	3/7/2	6/5/7	3/3/2	3/2/3	3/6/6	4/4/4	3/3/3	Grown across all research kebeles
Field pea*	3/4/3	–/5/–	4/2/–	–/–/3	4/2/3	3/3/2	5/–/–	–/–/8	Grown across all research kebeles
Lentil*	1/3/2	–/2/–	3/1/6	4/1/–	5/4/–	–/8/–	–	–	Widely grown except SNNPR
Linseed	5/–/–	–	–	–	–	4/–/–	–	–/–/12	Not widely grown
Maize*	–	–	–	–	–	9/7/–	9/6/–	4/6/5	Grown in warmer areas at lower altitude
Potato	2/1/1	–	2/4/5	1/5/6	–/7/–	7/9/1	3/3/2	7/7/8	Grown in all research kebeles except Goshe Bado
Sasula	–	–	1/1/1	2/1/1	–	–		–	Grown in Tigray only
Sorghum	–	5/8/–	–	–	–	–	8/8/–	6/8/11	Grown in warmer areas at lower altitude
Teff*	–	1/1/1	–	–	–	2/5/–	2/2/2	1/2/2	Grown in warmer areas at lower altitude
Wheat	4/6/5	6/9/4	5/6/8	6/4/4	1/1/1	1/–/3	1/1/1	2/1/1	Most widely grown in Oromia and SNNPR
Vegetables	–/2^c/–	–/3^f4^g/–	–/4^e3^b/–	–/ 3^b/–	–	10^e4^a/5^d/–	7^f/–/–	–/–/10^f5^e	Grown in most research kebeles on small areas

Notes: ^aOnions.

^bCarrots.

^cGarlic.

^dPepper.

^eCabbage.

^fHaricot bean.

^gRough pea.

*Indicates significantly different than preference rankings for food (Table 5) at p < 0.05 for both t-test and Wilcoxon rank sum test.

Table 5. Crop preference ranking for food security by men/women/youth and kebele (1 = highest rank).

Crops	Amhara	Tigray	Oromia	SNNPR	Comments
	Gudo Beret	Goshe Bado	Emba harti	Tsibet	Salka	Ilu Sanbitu	Jawe	Upper Gana
Barley*	1/1/1	2/2/1	1/1/1	1/1/1	1/1/1	1/1/2	9/–/–	4/7/10	Widely grown except SNNPR
Chickpea	–	5/4/3	8/–/–	–	–	–	–	–	Goshe Bado and Embaharti only
Emma wheat	–	–	–	–	3/3/5	7/3/4	–	–	Awned wheat variety, grown for taste
Enset*	–	–	–	–	–	–	1/3/1	1/1/1	Only grown in SNNPR
Eucalyptus	–	–/1/–	–/–/3	–/–/7	–	–	Sold or exchanged for food	–
Faba bean	3/3/3	3/2/3	3/3/3	5/3/3	4/4/3	6/6/2	6/8/7	6/6/5	Widely grown across all research kebeles
Field pea*	4/5/4	–/7/6	5/5/4	3/–/4	5/5/2	5/–/–	6/–/–	–/–/11	Widely grown except Upper Gana
Lentil*	5/4/5	–/8/–	5/5/4	6/4/–	6/6/–	–/5/–	–	–	Widely grown except SNNPR
Linseed	6/–/–		–	–	–	11/–/–	–	12/–/–	Grown in three research kebeles
Maize*	–	–	–	–	–	4/–/–	3/5/3	2/3/3	In warmer areas
Potato	7/6/6	–/–/–	6/6/5	5/5/5	–/7/–	8/7/5	4/4/4	7/7/7
Sorghum	–	4/6/–	–	–	–	–	10/8/0	4/8/6	Grown in warmer areas at lower altitude
Teff*	–	6/3/5	–	–	–	2/2/2	2/2/5	3/5/4	In warmer areas
Wheat	2/2/2	1/1/2	2/2/2	2/1/4	2/1/4	3/4/1	2/1/6	5/2/2	Widely grown across all research kebeles
Vegetables	7^c/–/–	–/10,11^g/–	–/7^e7^b7^a/–	–/6^b,6^a/–	–	12^e9^a/8^d/–^a	5^f/–/2	–/9^e/–	Widely grown but on small areas only

Notes: ^aOnions.

^bCarrots.

^cGarlic.

^dPepper.

^eCabbage.

^fHaricot beans.

^gRough peas.

*Indicates significantly different than preference rankings for food (Table 5) at p < 0.05 for both t-test and Wilcoxon rank sum test.

Table 6. Livestock preference ranking by men/women/youth and kebele (1 = highest rank).

Type	Amhara		Tigray		Oromia		SNNPR		Prime use
	Gudo Beret	Goshe Bado	Emba harti	Tsibet	Salka	Ilu Sanbitu	Jawe	Upper Gana
Ox	1/4/3	1/6/4	1/5/1	1/5/3	1/1/1	1/1/1	1/1/1	1/2/3	Land preparation
Cow	2/3/3	2/2/5	2/4/4	2/4/4	2.2/2	2/2/2	2/2/2	2/1/2	Milk and butter production
Sheep	3/2/2	4/3/2	5/3/3	3/2/1	5/4/5	2/4/5	4/5/5	7/–/7	Wool and meat
Donkey	–/5/–	3/4/6	1/–/3	5/6/6	3/3/3	3/6/4	3/3/3	3/6/4	Transport
Poultry	5/1/1	5/1/1	6/1/1	4/1/5	7/6/6	–/5/6	6/–/4	6/3/8	Eggs and meat
Goat	–	–/4/2	3/3/4	3/3/4	6/–/–	–/7/–	5/4/6	5/5/6	Milk and meat
Horse	–	–	–	–	4/5/4	4/3/3	7/9/–	4/4/5	Transport
Mule	–	–	–	–	–	–	8/7/–	–/–/3	Transport
Bees	–/–/5	6/7/–	–	–	–	–	9/8/7	8/–/8	Honey production

Figure 3. Crop production challenges across kebeles.

Figure 4. Livestock production challenges across woredas.

Table 7. Priorities for future interventions and monitoring.

Intervention areas	Priority^a	Specific targets
Crops
Improving input supplies
Kebele seed production	1	Seed production training, seed certification infrastructure
Linking farmers to agro-dealers	2	Must address supply issues at woreda, zone, and regional levels, link rural to urban
Improving use of pesticides	3	Training, provision of credit for equipment, support for sprayer contractors
Improving production
Improving land preparation	4	Improve livestock efficiency and feeding, conservation agriculture, linking farmers with equipment
Improving soil fertility, reducing erosion	1	Conservation agriculture techniques, organic fertilisers, link with watershed protection programmes
Improving storage and processing	2	Triple bagging and other low-cost storage tech, pest control chemicals, bonded warehouses
Improving household nutrition	1	Promotion of fruit and vegetable consumption – kebele-level training, vegetable and fruit production support
Improving marketing	3	Building trust between farmers and traders, group sales, differential grading, price information
Livestock
Improving livestock feeding	1	Improve crop residue and annual fodder crop use, fodder trees, conservation grazing, linkages with feed suppliers
Improving livestock health
Linking farmers with agro-vet suppliers	1	Linkages with kebele animal health workers (CAHWs), stockists, and vets
Supporting CAHWs	2	Support CAHWs as small businesses, supported by IP and guided by vets
Improving breeds	4	Improved sires, artificial insemination services, introduction of hardy local breeds
Improving processing (milk)	1	Improve butter processing equipment for women, target improved fattening schemes for Easter, New Year
Improving marketing	3	Build trust between farmers and traders, group sales, price information (sell when prices are high)
Watershed protection, improving access to water
Linking with kebele initiatives	1	Planning and implementation of watershed protection plan, linked with government activities

Note: ^a Priorities for different intervention areas were found to be similar, but linked to gender prioritised crops and livestock types in each area.

Figure 5. Institutions identified as important for agriculture, ranked by percentage of respondents (men, women, and youth).

Table 8. Africa RISING research protocols.

Research protocols	Thematic areas	Regions
Irrigated/rain-fed fodder-oat-vetch mixture, desho grass, sweet lupin, napier grass	Feed and forage development	Amhara, Oromia, Tigray, and SNNPR
Fodder and fertiliser trees/shrubs	Improving efficiency of mixed farming systems through better crop-livestock integration	Amhara, Oromia, Tigray, and SNNPR
Stepwise intensification of faba bean/forage intercropping	Improving efficiency of mixed farming systems through better crop-livestock integration	Amhara and SNNPR
Crop residue management and utilisation – improved storage, choppers, and feed troughs	Feed and forage development	Amhara, Oromia, Tigray, and SNNPR
High value fruit trees – avocado and apple	Integration of high value products into mixed farming systems	Amhara, Oromia, Tigray, and SNNPR
Improved management practices and soil-test based nutrient amendments – bridging yield gap	Field crop varietal selection and management	Amhara, Oromia, Tigray, and SNNPR
PVS on major crops – bread wheat, durum wheat, potato, faba bean, lentil, chickpea, food barley, and malt barley	Field crop varietal selection and management	Amhara, Oromia, Tigray, and SNNPR
Community based seed production – major crops such as wheat, potato, faba bean	Integration of high value products into mixed farming systems	Amhara, Oromia, Tigray, and SNNPR
Raised bed/ ridges and furrow for SWC and agri-intensification	Improved land and water management for sustainability	Amhara, Oromia, Tigray, and SNNPR
Mechanised seeding – seeder fitted on a two-wheel tractor	Field crop varietal selection and management	Amhara, Oromia, Tigray, and SNNPR
Water harvesting, lifting and saving – ponds, rope and washer, solar pumps, wetting front detector	Improved land and water management for sustainability	Amhara, Oromia and SNNPR
Tractors and mounted motor pumps	Improved land and water management for sustainability	Oromia and SNNPR
Management of enset bacterial wilt	Field crop varietal selection and management	SNNPR
Food and seed crop production and storage – groups and cooperatives	Cross-cutting problems and opportunities	Amhara, Oromia, Tigray, and SNNPR
Integrated model watershed management	Improved land and water management for sustainability	Amhara and SNNPR