A $94 million project financed through a public-private partnership has been initiated to transform Ethiopia from a wheat importer to a self-sufficient producer and exporter by supporting 500,000 smallholder farmers. The CREW Project also will support expansion of irrigation into the lowlands of Afar and Somali regions. The African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional arm of the African Development Bank Group, is providing a grant of $54 million. The CREW Project has two main components. “Following the successful and nationwide deployment of heat-tolerant wheat varieties, irrigated wheat areas rapidly expanded, and wheat yields increased on average from 2 to 4 tonnes per hectare.

Source: Ethiopian News June 18, 2024 05:22 UTC