| Sumario: | Ethiopia’s extension and agricultural advisory landscape is undergoing a major modernization, shifting from generalized, “blanket” fertilizer packages toward precision, site-specific, data-driven fertilizer and agronomy advisories that reflect the country’s diverse agroecologies, soils, climates, and production systems. This transition is enabled by expanding national digital datasets and decision-support tools (DSTs) that translate agronomic relationships into localized, plot-level guidance. The national priority is not only to digitize recommendations, but to ensure advisory content is consistent, credible, interoperable, and institutionally endorsed so farmers, extension services, and input systems align around a common evidence base.
A key milestone is the evolution from tool-by-tool experimentation to coordinated national institutionalization. The fertilizer advisory engine initially advanced under NextGen is now integrated within HaFAS (Harmonized Digital Fertilizer and Agronomic Solutions), with LAFA (Localized Agronomy and Fertilizer Advisory) as the harmonized advisory package and delivery-ready toolset. LAFA unifies NextGen and LANDWise for multi-channel delivery, while HaFAS provides the national framework linking governance, data stewardship, model quality assurance, delivery partnerships, and scaling pathways. Governance is increasingly anchored by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and the National Agricultural Research System (NARS) through a DST coordination platform co-chaired by MoA and EIAR, with RARIs leading independent validation, protocol development, performance testing, and iterative model improvement.
In 2025, Ethiopia strengthened the evidence base and operational readiness of LAFA/HaFAS. Following an evidence-based approach shaped during a May 2025 national planning workshop with CIAT, 2,384 geo-referenced on-farm trials were implemented across key regions (Amhara, Oromia, Central Ethiopia, South Ethiopia, Southwest Ethiopia, Sidama), comprising 954 validation and 1,430 piloting sites for maize, wheat, tef, and sorghum. The national agronomy and soil dataset expanded to 90,757 records, with 50,377 cleaned for improved model performance, and core scripts/databases were migrated to MoA infrastructure, strengthening national ownership.
Scaling progress also depended on delivery pathways: Digital Green integrated DST API access into FarmerChat (15,167 queries), LERSHA bundled advisories with credit and insurance (32,000+ profiled; 8,069 financed), and MoA bureaus implemented advisories via FRE–CFM under SSHI-III (10 districts; 484 plots; 70+ adopters). Remaining priorities include earlier seasonal deployment, affordability and input access, last-mile capacity, and continuous feedback to keep recommendations agronomically sound and economically feasible.
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