Donor Grant Title
NORW-135—Combating Nutrient Depletion in the Ethiopian Highlands

Grant Start Date: 01-May-1999
Grant End Date: 30-Apr-2002
Expenditure Start Date: 01-May-1999
Grant Duration: 36 months

Grant Description
The long-term goal of the proposed research program is to contribute to improved soil and water management, increased agricultural productivity, and reduced poverty and malnutrition in the East African highlands region. The immediate purpose is to help policy makers in the region identify and implement policies that will further this goal. Specific objectives are:

1. To understand the extent of land degradation in mixed crop-livestock systems in the East African highlands region and the main causal factors, including social, cultural, economic, policy and institutional factors as well as biophysical factors.
2. To help integrate greater understanding of these factors into global research on soil, water and nutrient management.
3. To identify major pathways of development in the region and their causes, including those which lead to sustainable intensification of crop-livestock systems.
4. To identify and assess policies and strategies to facilitate more productive and sustainable pathways of intensification.
5. To increase policymakers', development practitioners, and people's awareness of land degradation problems and policy options to promote more sustainable soil management.
6. To strengthen the capacity to conduct socioeconomic and policy research related to sustainable land management in the region.