NSA CASE Project-Using Digital Data Management to Guide Agriculture Sector Nutrition Initiatives

In the current era of data revolution, addressing the prevalent challenges of food and nutrition insecurity necessitates the establishment of a robust monitoring and evaluation system founded on a proven and reliable data management protocol.

In the contrary, the Ministry of Agriculture of Ethiopia employs a manual-based reporting system, utilizing methods such as phone calls and both soft and hard copy reports to gather data from various federal-level technical directorates, tracking the progress of planned activities and monitoring and evaluating achievements. The M&E Directorate from regions relies on manual-based reporting systems to communicate data to MOA directorates at the federal office through scanned copies of reports and phone communication. Data from district agriculture offices follows a manual-based system to reach the regional BOA, while data from kebeles is reported to district offices manually by Development Agents (DAs) or experts conducting supportive supervision at the lower levels of government (kebeles and woredas).

The use of a manual-based reporting system to aggregate and develop annual and bi-annual NSA (food and nutrition) reports is not reliable, replicable, or validated for its intended purpose. Reliance on a third-party data source like Central Statistic (CSA) annual or five-year surveys, independent research works, and project reports are often not fully aligned with the Ministry’s nutrition objectives as well as its data needs for effective planning and decision-making. AGMIS indicators, including nutrition indicators, lack uniformity, coherence, and integration, presenting challenges in monitoring NSA implementation. Furthermore, AGMIS lacked standardized reporting formats, a well-organized data management system, and an established mechanism for sharing data within the Ministry. This has resulted in gaps in meaningful data reporting, analysis, and utilization for decision-making by the MOA, RBOA, and District offices regarding food production, access, and utilization.

To address the issue, MOA with the support of NSA CASE project piloted Agriculture Management Information System (AGMIS) to digitize the agriculture data reporting management to improve effectiveness of data collection and reporting, its reliable and validity for targeted planning and implementation of NSA initiatives.