Dirk Hoekstra

The impact of gender-blindness on social-ecological resilience: The case of a communal pasture in the highlands of Ethiopia

Abstract We studied how the failure to take into account gendered roles in the management of a communal pasture can affect the resilience of this social-ecological system. Data were collected using qualitative methods, including focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, and participant observations from one community in the highlands of Ethiopia. The results show that women are excluded from the informal institution that defines the access and use rules which guide the management of the communal pasture. Consequently, women’s knowledge, preferences, and needs are not taken into account. This negatively affects the resilience of the communal pasture in two ways. Firstly, the exclusion of women’s knowledge leads to future adaptation options being overlooked. Secondly, as a result of the failure to address women’s needs, they start to question the legitimacy of the informal institution. The case study thus shows how excluding women, i.e., side-lining their knowledge and needs, weakens social learning and the adaptiveness of the management rules. Being blind to gender-related issues may thus undermine the resilience of a social-ecological system.

Agricultural service delivery: strengthening private crop protection service in southern Ethiopia

ABSTRACT As one element of agricultural service delivery, in Ethiopia crop protection service has generally only involved the private sector on a small scale. This article outlines a case study where private crop protection service (PCPS) was strengthened from 2006 to 2010 in Halaba Special District, southern Ethiopia. The study used questionnaires, analysis, service comparison, ranking, and indicator-based assessments. The study shows that PCPS in 2007/08 crop seasons served 1,104 households on 1,707 ha of land in 19 Kebeles, contributing US

Promoting agro-enterprises in the highlands of Ethiopia through improved institutional support services: Experiences of market-oriented dairy and fattening development

327,752 in total. Assessment indicators values were better for PCPS than the informal crop protection service. Piloting PCPS strengthening is recommended to improve crop protection service and reduce crop loss in Ethiopia.

Commercialization of Ethiopian agriculture: Extension service from input supplier to knowledge broker and facilitator

Ethiopias agriculture-led industrial development strategy (ADLI) stipulates that smallholder-led commercial transformation of agriculture is vital for the social and economic development of the country. The improving productivity and market success (IPMS) of Ethiopian farmers project is intended to demonstrate market-oriented transformation of smallholders in Ethiopia. This five-year project, operating in 10 districts distributed in four Regional States, follows innovation systems perspective and value chains framework, and participatory commodity development approach in identifying and implementing various interventions. Action research is an integral part of the project designed to draw and synthesize lessons for scaling out and up of successful practices. This chapter presents syntheses of the results and lessons of the development of institutional support services in promoting market-oriented dairy and livestock fattening to transform smallholder farms into rural agro-enterprises. Major conclusions and implications include: (1) the traditional production and technology focused extension service approach is inadequate for market-oriented agricultural development; market-oriented extension service is required; (2) provision of market information in various forms, facilitating virtual or physical linkages of producers with buyers, and formal and informal collective action for produce marketing increase bargaining power of farmers; (3) different input supply systems including community-based, farmer-to-farmer, the private sector, cooperatives and the public sector can be appropriate and effective for different value chains; (4) creating linkages between producers, input suppliers and other value chain actors is an important part of value chain development and a task for the extension service; (5) market-oriented agricultural development is a continuous and dynamic process that requires different types of interventions at different stages of development; (6) community-based insurance for small ruminant fattening enterprises can be successfully developed, benefiting especially female-headed households; and (7) credit systems to support small-scale commercial livestock production and agribusinesses can be successfully used to boost production and the supply of inputs and services.