In Ethiopia's Jimma Zone, smallholder farmers are helping test a new model for African agriculture, backed by the African Development Bank Group and Japan.
The project aims to raise yields, restore depleted soils and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the same time.
The work is supported by the Policy and Human Resource Development Grant (PHRDG), a Japan-financed bilateral trust fund managed by the African Development Bank Group. Established in 1994, PHRDG is the Bank Group's longest-standing bilateral trust fund and supports technical assistance, human capital development and knowledge exchange in agriculture, food and nutrition security, climate change, debt management and health. Japan has provided more than $50 million to the trust fund.
Through the project, Evidence-based Regenerative Agriculture to Address Climate Change in Africa, PHRDG is helping move Japan's partnership with the Bank Group from financing and policy dialogue to field-level innovation. Implemented in Ethiopia by the Sasakawa Africa Association, the initiative combines farmer training, climate-resilient crop varieties, soil restoration techniques and Japanese digital agriculture technology.
On demonstration plots in Seka Chekorsa Woreda, farmers are using improved maize and wheat varieties with liming, vermicomposting, biochar-based fertilizers, reduced tillage and digital advisory tools. Early data shows strong productivity gains: wheat yields rose 89%, from 1,293.0 to 2,443.7 kilograms per hectare, while maize yields increased 272%, from 1,222.0 to 4,541.8 kilograms per hectare. The project has reached more than 91,000 farmers in Ethiopia, including nearly 30,000 women.
Tomoki Nakai, Executive Director at the African Development Bank Group, said: "Japan's partnership through PHRDG demonstrates how innovation can help farmers address some of the most pressing challenges facing African agriculture. The value of this project lies not only in the results it delivers today, but also in the significant opportunities and lessons it offers for strengthening food security and resilient agricultural value chains through farmer-led approaches."
Nakai, who represents Japan, Argentina, Austria, Brazil and Saudi Arabia on the Bank Group's Board of Directors, led a June delegation to the project sites to review progress and meet farmers, extension workers, researchers and partners. The delegation included Innocent Musabyimana, the project task manager in the Bank Group's Agriculture and Agro-Industry Department, and Rosa Lugos, Principal Resource Mobilization Officer in the Resource Mobilization and Partnerships Department. The visit was organized by the Sasakawa Africa Association's Ethiopia country office with local government partners and Jimma University.
The initiative is carried out with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and SoftBank Corp, now Greenin. It combines Sasakawa's farmer training and sustainable farming expertise, climate-resilient crop varieties developed through the Bank Group's Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation program, and e-kakashi, an artificial intelligence-powered digital agriculture solution developed by SoftBank.
E-kakashi collects and analyzes environmental and field data to help farmers and extension workers make better crop-management decisions. In Jimma, it is supporting analysis of the practices being tested, including their effects on greenhouse gas emissions, soil carbon and growing conditions. The evidence generated will help identify techniques that can reduce emissions, improve soil carbon sequestration, increase productivity, and make more efficient use of water, fertilizer and labor.
During the visit, the delegation toured maize demonstration plots in Buyo Kechema Kebele, observed greenhouse gas emissions measurement, and visited a government-supported vermicomposting centre and nursery facilities. At the Shashemene Farmer Training Center, the delegation viewed maize and soybean demonstrations and saw e-kakashi technology supporting digital extension and data collection. The mission also included a visit to a biochar production facility at Jimma University's College of Agriculture.
Musabyimana said: "This project is helping us move from assumptions to evidence. By measuring what happens in the field, from yield performance to soil conditions and emissions, we can better understand which practices are most effective and what farmers need to adopt them at scale."
The project responds to constraints in the target communities, including high soil acidity, declining fertility, low productivity, limited adoption of improved agronomic practices, input shortages, drought, flooding and pest risks. Its farm-level package includes reduced tillage, liming, vermicomposting, biochar-based fertilizers, Bio-Boost inoculants, improved seeds, post-harvest technologies and digital extension tools.
The work is part of a broader PHRDG-supported effort across Ethiopia, Nigeria, Benin, Ghana and Uganda to build evidence on climate-smart farming practices, test farmer incentives, document lessons, and expand adoption of climate-adapted, biofortified and nutrient-rich crop varieties.
The Jimma visit underscored how Japan's partnership with the Bank Group is translating trust fund financing into practical innovation at farm level, linking Japanese digital technology, scientific evidence, local extension systems and farmer training. As the model is tested and refined, it could offer smallholder farmers a pathway to higher productivity, healthier soils and more resilient farming systems.
