Poster: Scaling up pulse innovations in southern Ethiopia

The challenge
Investments in child health in Ethiopia have contributed to a significant decline in the death of infants and young children over the past 20 years. But challenges remain: Ethiopia ranks fifth globally in terms of stunting while anemia affects nearly 37% of children under 5. In addition, livelihoods and diets in Ethiopia’s southern highlands are heavily dependent on cereal and root crops, which contain minimal protein and deplete soil nutrients. To address these challenges, the project aimed to identify approaches to increase farmer adoption of nutritious pulse varieties and encourage families to integrate pulses into their daily diets.

Key results
• Chickpea yields increased from 2 to 2.5 tons/hectare and common bean yields from 1.2 to 1.5 tons/hectare
• Cereal and pulse crops were grown together to improve soil health and yields.
• Pulse-nutrition education benefited more than 23,000 women-headed households
• Radio broadcasts about pulse nutrition reached more than 246,500 households

Cover photo credit: Peter K Wiggers/Pano Pictures

This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), www.idrc.ca, and with financial support from the Government of Canada, provided through Global Affairs Canada (GAC), www.international.gc.ca