A farmer realized his dreams come true

The salon picture, in green soldier uniform, shows as he was member of the ex- National defense force of Ethiopia. The man lost his teenage energy in the valley of 'Asab' Port & 'Nakifa' Mountain war, to keep the unity and sovereignty of his country, Ethiopia. Now Ato Alemayehu becomes 50 year old man with a lot of memory. He leads his life in small agriculture. He is a Productive Safety Net Program beneficiary.

Feed the Future: Livelihood for Resilience project (GRAD II ) has trained 36 thousand farmers in the way to diversify their income & improve their livelihood. Ato Alemayehu has been engaging in value chains of Potato production, poultry & shoat fattening.

To start a poultry business, he took a loan from his village Economic & saving association. Then, he fattened a sheep for three rounds. Also, by taking 3.5 quintal potato tuber loan in kind from the project, He produced a potato tuber. Generally, after he joined the project, he earned 25 thousand birr profit and improved his livelihood.

Farmer Alemayehu says, “I earned Birr 25 thousand for the last nine months after I joined the project in shoat fattening, poultry & potato production. I earned 39 quintal potato from 3.5 hybrid potato tuber earned in kind loan from GRAD II project. Previously, I used to sow my farming for barley production and earned 3 quintal only. I did not feeling good about growing potato since it was perishable and low cost. Now I have Diffused Light Storage (DLS) extend storage life of seed potato and ensure a quality seed supply for the subsequent production season. I am happy for all types of assists from the project”.

Ato Alemayehu has pledged to diversify his income by applying technologies promoted by GRAD II project.