Agricultural productivity is one of the focus areas of SO 16. It advocates an integrated approach, among others, through adoption of new technologies and improved agricultural practices and resource management. Intermediate Result (IR) 3 of SO 16, Natural Resources Management and Agricultural Productivity Improved, states that innovative partnership between research and extension systems is required to ensure the accelerated adoption of improved agricultural technologies and practices. This IR of the new strategy is by and large related to the IR4 of the former RHPP SO 7 (IR4) Food, agricultural and environmental research systems in target areas strengthened, on which the Research component of the AMAREW project is based.

Objectives of the research component

The overall objective of the on-farm research support is to improve agricultural production and productivity and ensure food security at the smallholder household level in the target woredas of the ANRS through the development and introduction of new technologies. The assistance of AMAREW project to ARARI in 2005 will place emphasis on the following major activity areas:

• Carrying out on-farm research in the
proposed seven target woredas


• Upgrading researcher skills through short-term training

As stipulated in the ARARI Master Plan and the 3-year Strategic Plan, the research categories of the institute include soil and water management, forestry, field crops, horticultural crops, crop protection, animal production, feeds and nutrition, dry land farming, animal traction, and post harvest technology. This 2005 Annual Work Plan for the Research Component addresses most of these categories and has been developed jointly with ARARI, AMAREW’s institutional partner. Recently a shift in research approach has been instituted by the BoARD instructing ARARI to follow the commodity focused research approach, in which all activities be planned in an interdisciplinary manner around major commodities such as wheat, teff, sorghum, maize, faba bean, field peas, noug, potatoes, dairy, poultry, etc. The natural resources research is also given major emphasis in the new directives by the Bureau.

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