NewsSpanish Cooperation visits AECID-INBAR project site in Ethiopia
The team visited a model bamboo plantation, nursery site and women-owned enterprise.
On 28 October 2025, an AECID team from Headquarters and Spanish Cooperation Office in Ethiopia visited one of the project sites in Arba Minch, South Ethiopia Regional State. The team visited a model bamboo plantation and nursery site in Lante Kebele, Arba Minch Zuria Woreda, Gamo Zone, South Ethiopia Regional State.
With generous support from the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), INBAR has been implementing a pilot project on building a circular economy and climate change resilience through bamboo supply chain development in Ethiopia. The project has been implemented in Addis Ababa, Sidama and South Ethiopia regions. It ultimately aimed to support the establishment of bamboo nurseries to produce bamboo planting materials and plant bamboo for land restoration to improve community livelihoods. This has been achieved by by supporting capacity building on sustainable bamboo management practices and strengthening supply chains by establishing bamboo market depots and improving bamboo enterprises’ work-sheds.
In addition, the project has also supported the regional forestry bureau and Arba Minch University in establishing and strengthening bamboo nursery sites, and provided bamboo seeds and other inputs for producing quality bamboo planting materials. An awareness program has been held on the benefits of bamboo plantations for the university community. Capacity-building training and technology transfer on bamboo propagation and plantation techniques, sustainable bamboo management and harvesting practices have been also provided for farmers, nursery technicians, development agents and forestry experts under the forestry bureau in the region to build up expertise.
Moreover, the team visited a women-owned bamboo enterprise, Zetena Firewoch Bamboo Enterprise, operating in the town of Arba Minch. The project has supported this enterprise by providing skills development training in bamboo handicrafts production and provided some tools to scale up their production capacity. The enterprise is now producing bamboo baskets, furniture and other handicrafts.
During the visit, the AECID team held discussions with project beneficiaries and the implementation team. They noted the good progress of the project and mentioned that support will be extended for sustaining best practices and scaling up the initiative.
