Between May 20 and June 5, 2022 , the researchers Marcelo Francia Arco-Verde, Ananda Virgínia de Aguiar and Valderês Aparecida de Souza, from Embrapa Forestry, were in a technical mission in Ethiopia to participate in the milestone of the project “Strengthening Ethiopian technical capacity for forest exploration and sustainable management''. This project is funded by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs's Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC, acronym in Portuguese), which is responsible for Brazilian humanitarian cooperation. The researchers were accompanied by ABC technicians André Gustavo Perdigão Narros, Fernando Andrade and Daniel Martins Alves. The aim of the mission, which has been ongoing for seven years, is to strengthen the technical and operational capacity of Ethiopian researchers in the context of agroforestry systems and forest tree breeding. The technical cooperation activities have been taking place at the Ethiopia Forestry Development (EFD), in the outskirts of Addis Adeba and in the forests of Climo and Menagesha Suba. In this phase, 15 technicians from the Ethiopian Institute participated in the training on Forest Breeding and Genetic improvement, and in the section about agroforestry systems, there were 12 participants from EFD. According to the Embrapa researchers, this mission, like the others that had been developed in Ethiopia with the contribution of Embrapa Forestry, awakened participants’ interest in continuing studies on agroforestry systems, conservation and forestry breeding and genetic improvement, which can significantly improve the economy and quality of life of Ethiopians. Ethiopia is a country in which 80% of the population survive on agriculture, and all the lands are government properties. In the country there is scarcity of many resources, like water and wood for many purposes. “The poverty there is much worse than what we have seen in Brazil. The country lacks structure, qualified labor and many resources like water, coal and there is no wood available to cook. Everything has to be cultivated then harvested, and used for cooking or to feed animals.We have to find a way to minimise poverty. Maybe we could not find a resolution in the short term, but we cannot settle for that. In a work like this, Embrapa can contribute a lot to improve living conditions for that population, in the long term”, states the researcher Marcelo Arco-Verde, responsible for the part of the training in agroforestry systems offered to EFD technicians. Agroforestry Systems In this part of the course offered to Ethiopian technicians, they applied the AmazonSaf methodology, a tool for agroforestry financial systems analysis. Since they deal with many kinds of cultivations – coffee, ensete (false banana) and acacia – in the same area and practically at the same time, planning and continuous analysis become fundamental. Marcelo Arco-Verde, with the technicians of the Ethiopian institute, used as a foundation local information about the most used species in the region, and social, climate and logistical aspects (such as labor supply, for example). The AmazonSaf system generates technical coefficients and indicators for many aspects, showing a portrait of the farmer’s situation in social and environmental aspects, which can help the agroforestry farmer improve and reorganize their production. “They understood the proposal, because they identified the problems after having performed the entire financial analysis as well as the possible answers to those problems, and thus they began to correlate the entire process that was assessed to their reality and that of other regions in the country”, Arco-Verde states. At the end of the evaluation meeting, they established the existence of two focal points which will better detail the organizational work for the other regions, on top of proposing an integrated work plan in the country. “We suggest something deeper, which is to help in the elaboration of a national plan for agroforestry systems, with action and data organization. I believe that if we insist, this project will go on, always respecting the demand from Ethiopian technicians”, the researcher asserts. Conservation and Breeding The researchers Amanda Virgínia de Aguiar and Valderês Souza coordinated the activities of selecting of stock plants for conservation and genetic improvement. According to the researchers, in Ethiopia, tasks in these areas of knowledge have not started yet, which demands a bigger effort of cooperation. “Brazil can contribute a lot with the experience of many decades that we have in this area”, Valderês Souza says. For the course offered to the technicians from EFD, the Embrapa Forestry researchers especially wanted to see the existing materials and native species of the region. Then they could review the concepts and requirements to perform a conservation and genetic improvement activities. “There are Pinus radiata plantations with almost 70 years of age, but they are still without adequate information about these plantations, their origin, provenance and genetic base, among others. We have shown how to make the identification of stock trees to collect seeds aimed at conservation, because there are many endangered species and they still have not begun this important process of preserving the remaining resources”, Souza reports. According to the researchers, composing germplasm banks is an essential step for the conservation and genetic improvement of natural and planted forests. The active germplasm bank would allow the conservation of base populations for breeding and seed orchards aiming to meet the demand of commercial plantations in Ethiopia. Besides the criteria of material selection, the training addressed other concepts like controlled pollination, genomic selection, and other genetic improvement tools that are “indispensable for the establishment and advance of breeding programs in that country. During the capacity-building event it became clear that a minimal increase in the wood production of forest plantations would generate meaningful returns for forestry economic development in Ethiopia”, Ananda Aguiar affirms. “The groups elaborated genetic conservation projects considering native species of interest, in addition to a project on the genetic improvement of Eucalyptus globulus”, Souza reports. According to the researchers, in the presentations by the groups of technicians, they verified the need for new training in genetic resources to meet the Ethiopian demand to support the genetic conservation of both natural forests and planted ones. “Generally speaking, we had a positive result from the training, having two technicians who will act as focal points and who will proceed with the contacts and the pace of the future joint work. During the event, a work at national level was suggested, which will be kickstarted with a land suitability zoning for the species of their interests (niche models). At the end of the course, the group proved aware of this importance, once the integration between technicians from different regions, at the moment, seems tenuous and this integration will make genetic resource programs more effective”, Valderês de Souza states.