Focus Group Discussion Protocols on Livelihood Situation of Farmers in four Communities in Oromia, Ethiopia (2015)

In four kebeles (smalles administrative unit in Ethiopia: Bonda Megela, Gaba, Wabo, Wangene) in Oromia district gender-disaggregated focus group discussions on socio-economic aspects of farming communities were conducted. Aspects have been the institutional network of the village (with the help of the Venn Diagram tool, income and livelihood sources (with land, without land, with irrigation, without irrigation) with a focus on cash and food crops and vegetable production, market access, marketing structure and prices, land titles and inheritance arrangements, role of extension services, access to credit, contractfarming and future plans of children. Discussions were part of the NutriHAF project, which aims at diversifying diets and livelihoods through the promotion of multi-storey cropping in biosphere hotspots in Ethiopia and Madagascar.

Purpose: Discussions were part of the NutriHAF project, which aims at diversifying diets and livelihoods through the promotion of multi-storey cropping in biosphere hotspots in Ethiopia and Madagascar. One workpackage of the project entirely deals with socioeconomic and gender issues in order to understand the farmers life realities, opportunities and challenges for the project. Because the project is highly participative and all crops and locations will be selected jointly with farmers and adoption rates as well as impact have proved to be much higher if socio-cultural contexts and gender relations are considered the focus group discussions and interviews serve to provide an overview on the social context and social relations in the locations.