Hilina Alemu — A 13.2 million dollar loan to the government of Ethiopia by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a UN agency, was ratified by the Parliament last Tuesday, January 5, 2010.

IFAD offered the loan, in June 2009, to tackle land degradation through sustainable land management including undertaking soil and water conservation activities around Lake Tana in the Amhara Regional State.


The government is to use the loan for the purchase of equipment, with the 2.8 million dollar customs duty to be covered by the government itself. Although the loan agreement is to be signed with IFAD, part of the money will be obtained from the Global Environment Fund (GEF).

The offer, to be paid back in 40 years, was discussed by the Rural Development, Budget and Finance, Natural Resources, and Environmental Protection standing committees, together with experts from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD) and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED), after the case was referred to the Rural Development Standing Committee on December 10, 2009.

All were in favour of the loan according to Ababi Demissie's report, chairperson of the Rural Development Standing Committee of Parliament.

This project is expected to help reduce land degradation in agricultural landscapes and improve the agricultural productivity of smallholder farmers who are settled around Lake Tana, Ababi explained to the MPs.

Ethiopia loses about two billion tonnes of fertile soil to land degradation each year, according to data from IFAD.

The project plans to execute 650 small-scale irrigation developments and energy generation activities similar to but smaller than the Tana-Beles Hydroelectric Power Generation Project at a cost of 6.6 million dollars. The other half will be used to execute natural resource management projects. About 450,000 families are expected to benefit from the project planned to cover 15,000ht.

Other land management and soil and water conservation projects are underway in the MoARD assisted by the World Bank, the German Technical Cooperation (gtz), Finland and German governments and GEF.