The House of Peoples’ Representatives has cleared a law that will let private companies, cooperatives, and non-governmental organisations provide agricultural advisory services, a major departure from decades of state-controlled extension.
The decision came during the 14th regular session of the House’s fifth-year term under its sixth legislature, where lawmakers reviewed the Standing Committee on Agriculture’s report on the Pluralistic Agricultural Extension Service and Management Proclamation. Developed by the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) alongside the Ministry of Agriculture and development partners, the law aims to modernise a system long criticised as rigid, outdated, and unresponsive to the needs of Ethiopia’s increasingly commercial farming sector.
The reform follows the Council of Ministers’ approval of the proclamation on May 21, 2025, after which it was referred to parliament for review. During the same session, the council also examined the Draft Proclamation on Ecosystem Service Payments, which introduces a legal framework for implementing ecosystem service fees.
