Inclusive Tractor Financing Reaches Ethiopia
Heifer International, Hello Tractor and Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture roll out a pay-as-you-go tractor financing model that opens mechanization access for Ethiopian smallholder farmers and youth.
Ethiopia
We leverage partnerships to implement innovative, market-based solutions that improve incomes for smallholder farmers.
Country Context
With 132 million people, Ethiopia is Africa’s second-most populous country after Nigeria and boasts a rapidly growing economy. According to the World Bank, Ethiopia’s economy expanded by about 7.6 percent in 2024; however, Ethiopia remains one of the lowest-income countries in the world. Rising inequality, conflict and climate change threaten social and economic development progress.
To address these issues, the government implemented a 10-year development plan — from 2020 to 2030— to sustain the high growth rate while shifting to an economy driven by the private sector. Despite 62 percent of Ethiopia’s workforce being employed in agriculture, roughly 15 million people require food assistance. Ethiopia’s agricultural sector has untapped potential, with opportunities in commercializing fruit, vegetable, plant and livestock products and localizing food production.
Our Response
Heifer Ethiopia aims to support 1 million smallholder farmers — 70 percent of whom will be youth — to achieve financial stability and prosperity by 2030. We focus on innovative, market-based solutions to address market failures by identifying and partnering with private companies and public institutions that can drive change.
Through technical training, mentoring and coaching, co-implementing projects and sharing knowledge, we strengthen agricultural market systems to be competitive, inclusive and profitable, particularly for women and youth. We collaborate with partners at all levels to achieve broad impact with this work, aiming to deliver change and foster solutions that can end hunger and poverty in Ethiopia.
Our primary objective is helping families achieve a sustainable living income, our measure for the amount of money required for a decent life — including safe shelter, nutritious food, clothing, education and health care — while also reaching additional benchmarks for economic and climate resilience.
Primary Value Chains
Beekeeping
Dairy
Horticulture
Poultry
Small Ruminants
2019
Year Heifer launched in Ethiopia
11,368
Household participants in 2025
850,164
Household participants to date
The Ethiopia Signature Program
Heifer International’s work is organized at the country level into signature programs focused on large-scale and measurable impact achieved by building partnerships at all levels. Each program supports farmers through time-bound projects designed to increase their household income.
Restore+
Heifer’s signature program in Ethiopia, Restore+, supports 1 million smallholders in the dairy, horticulture, poultry and small ruminants value chains to attain a sustainable living income by partnering with market actors to address systemic constraints that limit agricultural productivity and economic growth.
Featured Projects
Africa Tractorization Strategy Ethiopia Project
Project timeline: 2025–present
The Africa Tractorization Strategy Ethiopia (ATSEP) Project expands access to tractor services for smallholder farmers through an inclusive financing model that lowers the cost of ownership. By making mechanization more attainable, the project supports higher productivity, eases labor demands and increases farm income.
ATSEP uses a pay-as-you-go financing approach that allows smallholder farmers to purchase tractors over time while also increasing the availability of mechanization services at the local and regional levels. The model reduces high upfront costs and collateral barriers, opens employment pathways for women and youth and supports climate-smart agricultural practices across Ethiopia.
AYuTe Africa Challenge Ethiopia
Project timeline: 2022–present
The AYuTe Africa Challenge Ethiopia is an annual national competition that awards cash grants to Ethiopian agritech innovators with ideas to transform farming and food production. The national competition is part of a regional program, AYuTe Africa NextGen, which supports young African entrepreneurs in developing solutions to address smallholder farmers’ challenges, providing necessary incubation and financing to drive agribusiness innovation across the continent.
Between 2022 and 2025, Heifer Ethiopia launched three successful competitions as part of the venture and awarded prizes to 17 young women and men to advance their original agricultural technology innovations. The awards combine cash grants, mentorship and business development support to help translate the energy and ideas of young innovators into meaningful impact for smallholder farmers across the country.
Enhancing Livelihoods of Smallholders Through Improved Poultry Business
Project timeline: 2023–2027
Implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Enhancing Livelihoods of Smallholders Through Improved Poultry Business project aims to transform traditional smallholder poultry production while supporting 70,000 rural households to achieve a sustainable living income. The project, which prioritizes engaging women and youth smallholders, aims to increase income from egg production by 35 percent and improve the efficiency of poultry venture capital through improved partnerships between smallholder egg producers, the private sector and the public. Heifer Ethiopia provides technical assistance to support effective implementation and build expertise in poultry production and market integration.
Ethiopia Livestock Insurance
Project timeline: 2025–present
The Ethiopia Livestock Insurance (ELSI) project supports pastoralist households by expanding access to affordable livestock insurance that helps protect animals and incomes from climate- and shock-related losses. Designed to fit pastoral systems, the project aims to strengthen household resilience and reduce the financial risk associated with drought, disease and other disruptions. The project currently supports 6,250 pastoralist households in the Somali Region, with a focus on building a model that can reach more families over time.
News & Stories
Breaking Barriers: An Ethiopian Beekeeper’s Story of Resilience
Workeye Endris, a 29-year-old mother of six from Asosa, Abrahamo Woreda, is breaking long-standing gender barriers in beekeeping and boosting livelihoods in her community.
3D-Printed Honeycomb Reinvents Honey Production in Ethiopia
A young engineer’s love for bees sparks a breakthrough invention that’s changing how honey is made.
Our Partners in Ethiopia
- Alema Farms/Alema Koudijs Feed PLC
- Cooperative Bank of Oromia
- International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
- Ministry of Agriculture
- Ministry of Irrigation and Lowlands (MILLS)
- Ministry of Labor and Skills (MoLS)
- World Bank
“Development is the concern of the global community, and partnership is a vital step toward this. I am glad of the partnership forged today [with Heifer International], and I am certain that this will go a long way to achieving the lofty objective of the Lemat Terufat, the flagship program of the Ministry of Agriculture.”
Dr. Fikru Regassa, State Minister, Ministry of Agriculture
