Making nutrition a priority in Ethiopia's food systems

In Ethiopia, successful agricultural transformation hinges on expanding access to healthy, nutritious diets, sourced from sustainable systems. It’s also critical that actors within Ethiopia’s agriculture and food systems can adapt to a rapidly changing socio-environmental landscape, including shifting demographic trends, socio-cultural preferences, and weather-related shocks. Funded through USAID, Feed the Future Ethiopia Transforming Agriculture is a five-year activity led by RTI International with support from Venture37, First Consult, and WI-HER. The program is influencing and inspiring the country's agriculture and food system actors to sustainably improve the diets of 7 million people, particularly women and children, living in 132 target woredas (districts) across the country. Feed the Future Ethiopia Transforming Agriculture is identifying consumer preferences for nutritious foods and is leveraging that information to influence and incentivize market actors to improve business practices, expand networks, and re-think norms, thus re-orienting the agriculture and food system to become more demand focused. Together, these efforts are making safe, diverse, nutritious foods more available, affordable, convenient, and desirable, while improving the competitiveness, inclusiveness, resilience, and sustainability of the food and agriculture system. Venture37 is leading the livestock production and food safety and quality activities under the program.