Special Country Programme - Phase II

Special Country Programme – Phase II

The Special Country Programme II (SCP II) builds on the experiences of SCP I. The project area goes beyond the Oromiya region originally covered by SCP I to include the Amhara and Tigray regions and the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s region. Its main objective is to improve the food security and incomes of rural poor people through several activities:

• developing and rehabilitating small-scale irrigation schemes owned and managed by farmers
• improving delivery of agricultural support services in irrigation water management and crop production
• promoting improvements in natural resource use and management
• improving family nutrition and the incomes of rural women through development of vegetable gardens
• strengthening the institutional capacity of decentralized regional administrations

Activities focus on small-scale irrigation, upgrading traditional schemes and building new ones. More than 40 irrigation schemes have been completed over more than half of the planned area. The project addresses the availability and cost of vegetable seed and local seed multiplication. Efforts are under way to ensure that at least 50 vegetable gardens managed by women are established for each irrigation scheme, with a target of 2,400 vegetable gardens.