By: Sintayehu Tamirat
Ethiopia's Haramaya university says it is actively engaged in the nation's flagship projects like Bounty of Baskets Initiative.
Established in 1950s as an agricultural college, the present day Haramaya University has been contributing immensely to Ethiopia's national development. The university, in addition to the agriculture disciplines, has various colleges and has been recognized as research university this year.
Through its community service the university changed the lives of the farming community in east Ethiopia, Feyisa said. It has so far delivered over 110 improved seeds with high yields. The improved seeds are also disease and drought resistant, according to Feyisa Hundesa, Coordinator of industry linkage and technology transfer at the university.
Haramaya university delivered better cattle breeds progressively improving them for 35 years now, he added. The university has also generated and disseminated nationwide better potato varieties, Feyisa said.
Seconding Feyisa's remarks, Director of Community Engagement and Industry Linkage at Haramaya University, Kemal Kassim, said the over the years, the university's technology delivery has not been limited to the nearby communities, but has been elevated to meaningfully assisting the country's flagship projects like Yelemat Trufat or Bounty of Baskets Initiative, which was spearheaded by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to ensure national food and nutrition self-sufficiency.
For Ethiopia, whose economy depends significantly on agriculture, the contribution of Haramaya university for the last 7 decades has been immense. The university also brought tangible results in delivering wide ranging services based on research and innovation to communities in east Ethiopia, according to Kemal and Feyisa.