Objective
To assist Ethiopia to strengthen agricultural services and systems for improved agricultural productivity, make them more responsive to clients needs, and enhance the capacity of producers to become aware of and to adopt economically viable and environmentally sustainable technologies and practices. The project tries to achieve this through:

• Modernizing Agricultural Technical and Vocational Training colleges
• Building capacity in agricultural extension system
• Strengthening of agricultural research system with improved institutional and human capacity
• Development of agricultural market institutions and
• Integration of gender equality, HIV/AIDS and environment issues.

2.Agricultural Extension Services

The goal of agricultural extension component would be to improve the effectiveness of the agricultural extension program as it scales up, particularly with regard to its capacity to respond to the expressed needs of farmers (specially market-oriented farmers) to enhance women’s participation and gender equality (GE) mainstreaming in all aspects of the extension system and to support the emergence of non-public sector agricultural services as additional feature of extension service in Ethiopia.

3.Agricultural Research

The core objective of agricultural research component would be to facilitate institutional strengthening of NARS by enhancing the participation of key stakeholders in priority setting, resource allocation and implementation and where possible funding, to re-enforce NARS capacity and make it more efficient and effective in generating and disseminating client-demand and market-oriented technologies and information.

4.Improving Information and Communication Systems within MoARD

The ICT capacity building component would strengthen MoARD’s capacity coordinate, monitor and evaluate initiatives in agricultural sector by building ICT capacity at federal, regional, woreda and FTC level.

5. Development of Agricultural Market Institutions.

The goal of agricultural extension component would be to improve the effectiveness of the agricultural extension program as it scales up, particularly with regard to its capacity to respond to the expressed needs of farmers (specially market-oriented farmers) to enhance women’s participation and gender equality (GE) mainstreaming in all aspects of the extension system and to support the emergence of non-public sector agricultural services as additional feature of extension service in Ethiopia

6.Project Managment

This component would support the establishment of a project management unit (PMU) under the direction of Federal and Regional steering committees.

Project Management The project is administered by a Project Management Unit (PMU) located at Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development under the State Minister for Agricultural Production. MoARD is responsible for ensuring the regions disperse funds and implement required project activities. The Agricultural Research Component is executed by EIAR and its federal research centers, regional agricultural research institutes and their regional research centers under the BoARDs; and other entities selected and contracted under competitive grants. To facilitate the agricultural research component Agricultural Research Focal Person at EIAR has been established.

The Research Component The core objective of the agricultural research component is to facilitate institutional strengthening of the National Agricultural Research System (NARS) by enhancing the participation of key stakeholders in priority setting, resource allocation and implementation and where possible funding, to reinforce NARS capacity and make it more efficient and effective in generating and disseminating client-demanded and market-oriented technologies and information. To achieve this, the project would provide for HRD, technical assistance, infrastructure, equipment, supplies, transport, and communications.