ETH-Soil stakeholders meet in Addis Ababa

25.02.2025

Upon the request of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Natural Resource Development Department, major stakeholders of ETH-Soil met in Addis Abeba on the 18th of February 2025.

The meeting was chaired by the DBFZ, represented by Dr. Volker Lenz, Head of the “Thermo-chemical conversion Department”. He expressed DBFZ’s gratitude for all the support received from the German Embassy and the Agricultural Sector Coordination (Ms. Andrea Wilhelmi-Somé, GIZ). He highlighted the relevance quality assurance systems in order to advance the transition towards a bioeconomy. With substantial contributions of the Oromia Agricultural Research Institute (IQQO), the Agricultural Faculty at Jimma University (JUCAVM) and the Oromia Bureau of Agriculture (BoA), progress in ETH-Soil implementation is already impressive: More than 115t of biochar have been produced, transformed into over 350t of biochar-based fertilizer (BBF) via mobilisation and training of 370 smallholders and applied to over 17ha of degraded plots of land.

Ms. Carlotta Preiß, Deputy Head Development Cooperation at the German Embassy, highlighted the overall efforts of the German bilateral cooperation to closely align activities to MoA priorities. The State Minister, Prof Eyasu Elias, expressed his sincere thanks for Germany’s reliable support. He emphasised that his ministry would like to assure food security in Ethiopia as a prime objective. Therefore, the MoA wants to triple agricultural outputs. Poor soil health was found to be the main obstacle with average Soil Organic Carbon levels at 1.4% instead of a healthy 4%. Kissi Begna, BoA, explained that Oromia has 28% of soils seriously affected by acidity. Here, strong support for the application of vermi-compost is a perfect fit with ETH-Soil’s capacity building on plant-based biochar.

Ato Fikreyesus Ashenafi, Sidama Agriculture and Natural Resource Development Bureau, informed parties that 120,000 ha are affected by strong acidity in Sidama. The IQQO Director, Ato Teshome Bogala Soboka, enriched the event with an overview on laboratory training, KonTiki construction and operation training as well as new insights on the certification of carbon sequestration in soils. He contributed IQQO research results on BBF’s effectiveness in soil amelioration and fertilisation.

Finally, Jimma University’s Deans, Dr. Solomon Tulu and Ato Efrem Wakjira underlined the importance of a sound evidence basis for BBF, continuing efforts and strong coordination with the Ministry of Energy and Water biogas. Upon closure, the ETH-Soil project manager, Kerstin Wilde, and project coordinator, Dr. Getachew Eshete, thanked the MoA and all parties for their efforts to attain the ETH-Soil objectives.