IFPRI Study Highlights Success of Government Safety Net Initiative
For several months each year, poor farmers in Ethiopia, especially those in drought-prone areas, go hungry. During the so-called “lean” period between planting and harvesting, food supplies can run dangerously low. Sometimes, families have to sell livestock, farming tools, and other precious assets to pay for food.
To tackle the problem at its roots, the government of Ethiopia launched a program in 2005 that provides farmers with public works jobs or subsidies during the lean period. According to a new World Bank brief based on IFPRI analysis, the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) has successfully helped farmers to keep their cupboards, as well as their tool sheds and pastures, better stocked.
For a more in-depth look at the study, read these project reports:
- Evaluation of Ethiopia’s Food Security Program: Documenting progress in the implementation of the Productive Safety Nets Programme and the Household Asset Building Programme
- The impact of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Nets and Household Asset Building Programme: 2006-2010
- The implementation of the Productive Safety Nets Programme in Afar, Somali, and selected lowland woredas in Oromiya