Photo credit: M Mitchell/IFPRI
“For us, anticipating, adapting to, and recovering from shocks are essential to our future.” With those words, H. E. Hailemariam Dessalegn, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, highlighted the importance of resilience for his country.
In his inaugural address at the opening of the 2020 Conference on “Building Resilience for Food and Nutrition Security” Thursday evening, Prime Minister Hailemariam outlined recent steps his government has taken in its quest to become a “green and climate resilient” middle income country by 2025. These include a green economy strategy to rehabilitate degraded land, plant forests and build climate resilience in agriculture, water, irrigation, and energy.
Prime Minister Hailemariam noted the work of Ethiopia’s Agricultural Transformation Agency which aims to maximize the contribution of agriculture—the source of half the nation’s GDP and 80 percent of its employment— to the country’s development. He also highlighted the resilience-building features of the Productive Safety Net Program, which provides conditional food and cash transfers to vulnerable households. Acknowledging that there is still work to be done, he welcomed the opportunity at the conference to “share experiences and learn from others.”
