Plantation Research Directorate

Plantation Research Directorate

Ethiopia has an area of 1.14 million square km. It is the 7th largest country and the second most populous nation in Africa. The vegetation types include different Montane forests and woodlands. Because of deforestation, the

Dr. Abayneh Derero
Director,Plantation Research

expansive agriculture in Ethiopia, and the mountainous and rugged topography, much of the Ethiopian landscape is highly degraded. The Government of Ethiopia, together with development partners, has been undertaking several initiatives as remedies to avert the situation.

The Plantation Research Directorate (PRD) strives to contribute to the Ethiopian Forestry Development’s Development’s vision and mission by generating research solutions, knowledge and technologies for use in forest development, agroforestry and restoration of degraded lands. The goal of the Plantation Research Directorate is to develop forested landscapes with important tree species under production forestry and increase trees in landscapes and agricultural systems for sustainable and maximum ecosystem products and services.

The Directorate’s objectives are:

  • Conducting demand-driven and problem-solving research in production forests, agroforestry, rehabilitation of degraded lands and urban forests and develop technologies and generate information
  • Improve tree seed sources, develop tree seed technologies, and improve the tree seed system to ensure the sustainable supply of quality tree seeds
  • Conducting problem-solving research on important tree disease and insect pests and develop technologies and generate information

By achieving the above objectives, the Directorate envisions to contribute to livelihood improvement, better nutrition, improved wood and non-wood forest products supply, improved environment and hydrology, improved resilience and adaptation and mitigation to climate change, and preservation and restoration of ecosystems and biodiversity. It will follow gender-sensitive and gender-equitable approaches, and will establish strong partnerships with pertinent institutions to execute its mission.

The strategic pillars of the Directorate are: –

1) People focus

2) Research excellence

3) Finance acquisition, and

4) Customer and stakeholder focus.

The Directorate has five divisions: –

  1. Production forest and urban forestry research,
  2. Rehabilitation of degraded lands research,
  3. Agroforestry research,
  4. Tree seed research, and
  5. Forest insect pest and disease control research.

Contact address

Abayneh Deraro, PhD

Director, Plantation Research Directorate
Ethiopian Forestry Development (EFD)