Following the initiative of the Addis Ababa City Mayor’s Office to support lower-income households during the Ethiopian New Year, Fri-El Ethiopia has donated a sum of birr 50,000 to Kirkos subcity woreda 02 administration to uplift the community’s spirits by allowing them to participate in a meal sharing (የማዕድ ማጋራት) program celebrating the holiday.
Any experimenting high school, vocational or technical school or university student or fresh graduate that intends to advance innovative solutions in agribusiness is eligible for our IIA program.
Anyone that is enrolled in other incubation programs is not allowed to join the program.
The maximum duration of the program shall be no more than 6 months.
Any given cohort of our IIA program shall not be more than a group of 10 individual innovators.
Each incubation, acceleration or scaling program is built out of different modules that address the most important needs of the specific group of innovators or companies. Here is a complete overview of the kind of support that will be provided at each stage.
Ideation
Product/service design workshop
Developing a sustainable and scalable business model
Going to market
Measuring Impact
Seed investment pitch
As each venture takes a different approach and faces different challenges when scaling, we take a holistic, non-prescriptive approach and provide support that is largely tailored to each venture’s needs. The scaling process generally includes six steps.
Prove
Design
Systemize
Pilot
Explore new markets
Scale
We support scaling ventures in market exploration and penetration via trade missions, connections to key advisors and partners in the target markets and by providing access to various forms of financing and/or distribution channels of large corporates.
We believe that the launching of this program will help to improve the commercialization and modernization of agriculture, and the development of an indigenous agribusiness sector while imparting youth with relevant experience and skills. Applications to the next cohort of the IIA program will be announced on our website once they are open.
The Fri-El Ethiopia farm is located in Omorate, a town in southern Ethiopia near the Kenyan border. Situated in the Debub Omo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region, this village has an elevation of 395 meters above sea level. Its location in the Omo Valley gives it a semi-arid climate, with low and erratic rainfall and warm temperatures. The town and its surroundings are inhabited by the Dassenech people, and the greater region is known as the Dassenech wereda. According to the Ethiopian Statistics Service, as of 2021, the estimated population in the wereda is about 70,000.
The Dassenech are a pastoralist tribe, and their livelihood is centered around the breeding of cattle and other herd animals like goats and sheep. These animals are not only used for meat, milk, and skins but also signify wealth and status. Apart from raising livestock, the Dassenech occasionally practice flood-recession agriculture along the banks of the Omo River.
While Ethiopia contains the largest livestock population in Africa with an estimated 80 million livestock, pastoralists and agro-pastoralists – such as the Dassenech – in tropical and subtropical drylands are among the most vulnerable groups to climate change. Since their livelihood is so reliant on livestock, any problems affecting their domestic animals directly impact the community. For the past several years, the Dassenech wereda has been affected by devastating droughts frequently experienced in the locality. They have also been the victims of floods owing to rain in the Central and South-Central Highlands, causing the overflow of the Omo River. This has caused many families to face hunger and severe economic struggles. A food security outlook shows that the area is categorized under an emergency zone, one step above a famine.
Fri-El Ethiopia has been operating the farm in Omorate since 2007 and, in that time, has made several efforts towards helping the surrounding community. At the moment, the biggest problem that the wereda faces is a lack of pasture for livestock. Thus, we are working with the Dassenech wereda administration to help combat this problem. So far, 1,600 bales of hay have been delivered from Jinka and distributed among the pastoralists in the area. An additional 15,000 hay bales have been delivered recently from production made on 100 hectares of our own land. This is expected to help partially alleviate several families’ immediate concerns regarding their cattle.
In order to further build a more sustainable solution for the pasture scarcity issue, 100 hectares of land from our farm has now been allocated to growing grass for the cattle. Several thousand bales of hay are expected to be harvested from these fields. Once the dry season hits in the coming months and the community faces a scarcity of pasture, this will help supplement their need for livestock feed. This is among our greater agenda of improving the community’s livelihood.
FRI-El Ethiopia Farming and Processing Plc added line of new machines as part of the envisaged mechanization process. Among these machines include a cotton picker which is believed to improve the speed and quality of cotton-picking for the coming season.
For a farming company well known for its cotton production, the introduction of the first John deere 9976 cotton picker in Ethiopia is yet another milestone!
Such heavy investments in advanced machinery will help the sought after technology transfer in agriculture and processing of agricultural produce. The required education and training will be given to staff to reap the benefits of automation to the fullest.
Every step taken at FRI-El Ethiopia, from staff to machinery, every effort made from improved inputs to harvest system are all aligned with the company’s vision to bring the best farming and processing practice in Ethiopia.
Fri-el Ethiopia Farming and processing strives to revolutionize banana production in Ethiopia. This entails improved inputs, production processes, and machinery.
Our company has introduced cold containers used to transport quality agricultural produce long-range without losing freshness. High-class fruit loading crates carry our products at various retail outlets. The necessary training in seedling nurturing, planting, cultivation, and harvesting all add up to the value we are trying to deliver.
This is a continuation of our effort to change the dynamics of Ethiopian large-scale Farming. It is known that we have recently introduced the first John Deere 9976 cotton Pickers in the country and the necessary training given to staff.
The whole process will take us a step closer to our goals and is aligned with our core value; never compromise on quality!
