Addis Ice-breaker for participants' introduction

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Two spectrum exercises, to align yourself on the spectrum from a) research to development and b) agreeing with the fact that sustainable intensification is THE way forward for income diversification for Ethiopian Highlands.

On R-D:

  • A majority of participants want to do research for developments: science that is applied to development issues, to be meaningful;

On agreeing with the statement:

  • Sustainable intensification (SI) is only one of the solutions among others;
  • The meaning of sustainable intensification (SI) can vary a lot from person to person: for some it integrates market perspectives and for others not;
  • Ethiopian agriculture is not intensified but it should be; There is no other way: you have to produce to sell etc.
  • SI is also a great driver to boost local opportunities.
  • The issue of off-farm farming is very important;
  • SI only increases productivity but also raises other concerns for the price of crops sold.
  • SI increases productivity but first something has to be produced before it can be intensified. Production is driven by the market but we have to produce in line with rainfall in this region (production per cubic meter of rainfall?) - producing twice a year could also be crucial.
  • Population increase means that we need to be smarter with our use of the same land size.