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CNFA and GIZ Ethiopia’s Farm Service Center Project (FSCP) Inaugurate Huruta and Sagure Farm Service Centers
ARSI ZONE, Ethiopia – In the first quarter of 2018, Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA) under GIZ Ethiopia’s Green Innovation Centre for the Food and Agriculture sector (GIC)-Ethiopia portfolio held ribbon cutting ceremonies to commemorate the inauguration of two Farm Service Centers (FSCs) in the Huruta and Sagure woredas of the Arsi Zone of Oromia Regional State. The FSCs are market-based, one-stop-shops that provide a complete range of supplies such as quality seeds, plant protection products, and veterinary products; information and training by skilled staff; and market access for Ethiopian smallholders at affordable prices, allowing them to make the step from subsistence to commercial production.
Implemented by CNFA, FSCP-GIC-Ethiopia provides grants and training to rural entrepreneurs, both women and men, to create Ethiopian-owned retail farm supply and service centers. To inaugurate the new FSCs, FSCP-GIC-Ethiopia partnered with Ethiopian entrepreneur Tsegereda Agriculture Input Supply Enterprise for the Huruta FSC, and Green Agro Solutions PLC for the Sagure FSC. Together, the FSC owners received a matching investment of €60,000 to establish the centers.
The inaugural events were attended by more than 400 representatives from government organizations, GIZ-Green Innovation Centres (GIC), other implementers of GIZ-GIC programs in Ethiopia, input suppliers, private enterprises, smallholder farmers, media and other stakeholders including Federal and Regional Government Officials from the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Oromia Bureau of Agriculture, and Zonal and Woreda Officials from Arsi Zone.
Key note speeches were given at both inaugurations by representatives from the Federal Ministry of Agricultural and Natural Resources, Oromia Bureau of Agriculture and Natural Resources and GIZ-Green Innovations Center (GIC).
The FSCs are now open for business for all smallholder farmers to access quality agricultural inputs and services.
