The Ethiopian Agricultural Research Institute (EARS)has evolved through several stages since its first initiation during the late 1940s, following the establishment of agricultural and technical school of Ambo

Ambo, Ethiopia

Ambo is a spa town in central Ethiopia. Located in the Mirab Shewa Zone of the Oromia Region, west of Addis Ababa, this town has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 2101 meters...

 and Jimma

Jimma

Jimma, also Jima, is the largest city in southwestern Ethiopia. Located in the Jimma Zone of the Oromia Region, it has a latitude and longitude of . The town was the capital of Kaffa Province until the province was dissolved. Prior to the 2007 census, Jimma was reorganized administratively as a...

. Until the mid-1960s the Imperial College of Agricultural and Mechanical Arts—now Haramaya University

Haramaya University

Haramaya University is one of the oldest universities in Ethiopia. It is located in Alemaya, a town in the Misraq Hararghe Zone, about 20 kilometers from the city of Harar and 40 kilometers from Dire Dawa....

—with its Agricultural Experiment Station at Debre Zeyit

Debre Zeyit

Debre Zeyit is a town of Ethiopia, lying south east of Addis Ababa. Since the late 1990s it has been officially known by the Oromo name, Bishoftu, which was its name until 1955...

—now Debre Zeit Research Center—was the major research entity. The establishment of the then Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR) in 1966 saw the first nationally coordinated agricultural research system in Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

.

The EARS consist of EIAR, Regional Agricultural Research Institutes (RARIs), and Higher Learning Institutions (HLIs). EIAR is responsible for the running of federal research center

Research center

A research center is a facility or building dedicated to research, commonly with the focus on a specific area. There are over 14,000 research centers in the United States...

s, and RARIs are administered by the regional state governments. In addition to conducting research

Research

Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...

 at its federal centers, EIAR is charged with the responsibility for providing the overall coordination of agricultural research countrywide, and advising Government on agricultural research policy formulation.

Currently, the EARS comprise 55 research centers and sites located across various agro-ecological zones. The research centers vary in their experience, human, facility, and other resources capacities. Some of the research centers and sites have one or more sub-centers and testing sites.

Core Mandates

• Supply of improves agricultural technology,
• Popularization of improved technologies,
• Coordination the national agricultural and
• Capacity building
  Capacity building
  Capacity building also referred to as capacity development is a conceptual approach to development that focuses on understanding the obstacles that inhibit people, governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations from realizing their developmental goals while enhancing...
  
  of researchers