Oromia is Ethiopia’s largest region, with almost 50 million people. On coming into office, the regional president, President Shimelis Abdissa, prioritized the transformation of Oromia’s agricultural economy to create employment opportunities for the region’s overwhelmingly young, still predominantly rural population. President Shimelis set the ambitious goal of creating 3 million quality jobs across the agricultural value chain by 2025 – while simultaneously advancing food security, import substitution, and increased export revenue.
President Shimelis and his government used a methodical, evidence-based approach to identify the strategic agricultural sectors where Oromia had the best chance of creating jobs and competing in the market, eventually selecting wheat, coffee, avocados, and other horticulture. Critically, President Shimelis aligned the region’s budget to the agreed priorities and supplemented the state’s contribution with social capital and investments from the farmers themselves. By directing all resources available in the region to the same key interventions, Oromia was able to fund interventions that actually moved the needle.
For instance, wheat was not traditionally a year-round crop in Oromia. It was only grown in the rainy season, resulting in the need for Ethiopia to import significant amounts of grain. Boosting wheat production in Oromia required substantial, coordinated investments in new seed varieties that would grow in the hot dry season; mapping all the dry-season water sources across 7200 kebeles; completing stalled irrigation projects and starting new ones; manufacturing water pumps and distributing them to wheat farmers throughout the region; clustering small-holder farmers so they could grow and harvest wheat efficiently; and creating a distribution and financing model for farmers to acquire tractors and combines. These investments required rigorous study and planning, careful stakeholder management, and substantial financial outlays, but the result has been a four-fold increase in wheat production, making Ethiopia self-sufficient and eliminating US $1 billion in imports that previously had to be paid for in hard currency.
Avocados were not a product traditionally grown in Oromia, but the Government sensed a market opportunity based on the region’s climate, agronomy and proximity to major markets. By prioritizing the export-oriented Hass variety, distributing trees, and coordinating producers, the Government has now turned avocado into a major export.
Unlike avocados, coffee has long been grown in Oromia, but the Government identified production inefficiencies, quality control, and a lack of traceability as impediments to maximizing the market. Coordinated improvements contributed to a substantial increase in export revenue, from $450 million to $1.5 billion.
The government's targeted interventions in these and other market segments have resulted in the creation of 2 million jobs across the value chain in the period 2023-24: from agricultural workers to those who work in irrigation, distribution, logistics, marketing, sales, and trade. The region has identified additional agricultural sectors to prioritize in the next wave, including rice, livestock and dairy.
Looking ahead, in addition to the consolidation of the agriculture value chain transformation, the Government of Oromia is focusing its methodology on manufacturing and entrepreneurship development. Specifically, President Shimelis has identified agro-processing and agribusiness as opportunities, given the domestic and global surge in demand for value-added products.
President Shimelis has also set a new target for his team: The creation of another 5 million quality jobs by 2028.
