In 2014, USAID, through its Agribusiness Market Development activity, sponsored a competition to promote women membership that included 42 farmer cooperative unions and almost 1,700 cooperatives in four regions. As a result, 5,400 new women members joined the cooperatives. USAID’s Agribusiness Market Development activity is the Feed the Future initiative’s flagship program in Ethiopia and represents one of USAID’s largest contributions to the Government of Ethiopia‘s Agricultural Growth Program. The $3.5 billion global hunger and food security initiative sustains the U.S. Government´s commitment as one of Ethiopia’s largest partners in developing the agriculture sector, which is a fundamental cornerstone of the Ethiopian economy