BRIDGE
Ethiopia,
concluded
The Building Rural Income through Inclusive Dairy Business Growth in Ethiopia (BRIDGE) project contributed to the development of an inclusive dairy sector in Ethiopia, increasing incomes and producing safe, nutritious food for all.
Between 2018 and 2023, the BRIDGE project served as a cornerstone of Ethiopia's agricultural transformation. By combining the expertise of Wageningen University and Research (WUR) and SNV, the programme successfully professionalised the dairy value chain, delivering safe and nutritious products to a growing population. Funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, BRIDGE moved beyond basic farming support to establish a competitive, market-led dairy ecosystem.
Building on the success of WUR EDGET (2012–2018), BRIDGE expanded its reach to stabilize production and market access. Key achievements included:
Economic impact: Directly reaching over 82,000 dairy-farming households.
Income growth: More than 70,000 farmers reported significant increases in household income.
Systemic change: Enhancing milk collection, processing, and marketing through the professionalisation of dairy cooperatives.
Child nutrition: Scaling the school milk programme (SMP) to reach over 55,000 children.
The bridge to phase 2
As a concluded project, the successes and lessons of BRIDGE now form the technical foundation for its successor, BRIDGE+. While Phase 1 focused on production and local hubs, Phase 2 scales these interventions to contribute to national, systemic change across the entire Ethiopian dairy sector.
Addressing the systemic barriers in Ethiopia’s dairy sector
While Ethiopia's economy continues to grow, the demand for quality, nutritious food has historically outpaced supply. The dairy sector faced significant hurdles to scaling, primarily because it consisted of smallholder farmers using low-productivity breeds with limited access to veterinary services, extension support, and essential input markets. To bridge this gap, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, WUR, and SNV combined their expertise to professionalise the sector and improve food security.
Strategic pillars for dairy professionalisation
Supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, WUR and SNV combined their expertise to develop the BRIDGE project. The project will explicitly make use of Dutch dairy private-sector expertise and will target strategies on gender, climate change, and youth employment. The project partners will define detailed activities during the first phase of the project.
To transform the industry, BRIDGE focused on four integrated outcomes that addressed the entire value chain:
Production: Enhancing milk yield through improved animal husbandry and feed.
Marketing: Streamlining collection and processing systems for higher commercial value.
Consumer access: Strengthening the connection between rural producers and urban markets.
Policy: Creating a more supportive enabling environment for dairy investment.
A legacy of impact: from EDGET to BRIDGE
BRIDGE is a follow-up to the EDGET project, which in turn is built on the Mass Hormonal Synchronisation and Insemination Project, the breed improvement programme of the Government of Ethiopia.
EDGET supported 65,000 dairy farmer households to achieve 100% income increase from dairy within five years. To qualify as an EDGET programme participant, households needed to have at least 1 to 3 milking cows and they should be willing to allocate 0.25 hectares of land for fodder production and adopt improved technologies. The project also improved the nutritional status of 500,000 children, particularly in the first 1,000 days of their lives, through the consumption of milk products.
