How Ethiopian Farmers Move from Survival to Stability

Ethiopia’s livestock population, the largest in Africa, is an immense national asset that has long sustained rural families and powered local economies.

In the lowlands of southern Ethiopia goats represent savings, school fees, and emergency reserves.

Yet for many small-scale farmers, limited markets, environmental shocks, and animal disease undercut the livelihoods they could derive from livestock.

The IFC-supported Luna Livestock and Out grower (LOG) Development program is working to change that picture.

By linking producers to reliable markets, improving technical capacity, and ensuring consistent supply, it is building more stable, opportunity-rich rural economies. 

It stands as an example of how AgriConnect—the World Bank Group strategy to move 300 million farmers from subsistence to surplus—is transforming farming in emerging markets.

Supported by the World Bank Group’s local currency hedging from the IDA21 Private Sector Window (PSW) Local Currency Facility (LCF); the Private Sector Window of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP PrSW); and the Ethiopia Multi Donor Initiative, the program has reached more than 7,800 participants.

Notably, women make up 21 percent of those beneficiaries, an impressive share in a traditionally male‑dominated sector.

Their participation points to a shift in who gets to benefit from agricultural growth.

Muda Okali, a father of four, instructs workers in his corn field in southwestern Ethiopia.

Knowledge as power: women leading livestock change

In the remote village of Argo Kebele, Garo Wongalo, a widowed mother of eight, traditional midwife, and community leader, has become a guiding force for change in her community.

After her husband died, responsibility for feeding, schooling, and protecting her family fell on her shoulders.

Joining IFC’s Luna LOG program gave her something she had never been offered before: practical knowledge of how to raise market-ready livestock.

Garo Wongalo, a respected community leader, has inspired others to adopt improved livestock management practices.

“Previously, I lacked knowledge about improving my animals’ health and productivity,” she says.

“After Luna gave us knowledge, I learned how to feed properly, how to care for them, and how to use vaccination.”

She put this learning into action, planting elephant grass behind her home to secure feed and sharing cuttings with neighbors so others could do the same.

The results were immediate and measurable: one of her goats sold for over double the previous price thanks to improved feeding practices.

“Before, our animals didn’t look healthy. Now they are strong, they give more milk, and they’re valuable. I want to focus on quality, not just quantity”

Garo Wongalo, a traditional midwife, community leader, and mother of eight in Argo Kebele

She is now teaching her children these practices, ensuring future generations succeed as well.

Garo is proving what happens when women are equipped to lead: households stabilize, knowledge spreads, and pastoral livelihoods shift from coping to building.

Linking producers to better practices

The Luna LOG program was launched to tackle low revenues and unstable supply in the livestock sector.

The program began by supporting Luna Export in developing the country’s first semi‑intensive goat farm that reflects international best practices in production efficiency, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare.

This included improved water and manure management, solar-powered irrigation, and strict animal welfare and biosecurity standards.

The program has since expanded to help farmers more broadly adopt better practices, which translates into healthier herds, reduced mortality, increased feed production, and broader adoption of vaccination, ear tagging, and improved husbandry.

Overall, the program demonstrates how targeted support unlocks compounding benefits: stronger animal health, higher and more reliable incomes, greater participation and leadership by women, and system building with the potential to influence the wider livestock sector.

For Luna Export, this has meant better backward integration into feed crop farming and an ability to secure quality livestock on a long-term sustainable basis.

Yet the most compelling evidence of progress emerged at the household level, where access to knowledge, inputs, and more predictable markets began shifting livelihoods from survival to stability.

Following recurring diseases, Damsenesh Serata’s goats received critical veterinary assistance and vaccines thanks to Luna LOG Program.

The big change is with people

Muda Okali, a father of four and lifelong pastoralist, had land and livestock, but not the tools or market certainty to turn hard work into stability.

Pests and disease wiped out much of his corn.

Even when he produced something, getting it to the market wasn’t always safe.

Then he joined IFC’s Luna LOG feed out grower scheme, which provided him with access to yellow corn seed, fertilizer, pesticides, mechanized land preparation and harvests, agronomic training, technical support, and, critically, a guaranteed buyer.

Muda’s results changed in a single season, managing almost triple returns on his initial investment. But his proudest measure of impact isn’t income alone. It’s what income unlocked at home and in the community.

“Even better, we now eat healthy food from our own goats. My children go to school. That was once a dream. I’m living it now,” he said.

“Before we used to do it ourselves on a small scale, just a few hectares. Now we’re doing it bigger and better with a modern company. As we see results and employ more staff, we’re meeting our needs. We aim to become a better place tomorrow.”

For Woniso Awino, a mother of six supporting an elderly husband, drought had reduced life to a single priority: finding food.

She joined Luna LOG after seeing neighbors succeed.

The program helped her overcome a critical barrier—land preparation—by ploughing her field and providing training and guidance.

In her first season, she earned over four times her regular annual income selling yellow corn biomass within three months.

Her family used that income to replace a flood-prone home with a safer structure.

Woniso Awino believes she can significantly boost the health and productivity of her goats and cattle, particularly during drought seasons.