Wheat is a traditional crop cultivated by 5 million households mainly in the highlands under-rainfed conditions in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian highlands represent conducive environments for wheat production but also serve as a niche for several pathogens. Small scale wheat farmers often have been threatened by recurrent epidemics of rust diseases. Preemptive measures were needed to cope with the ever-changing races of rust pathogens; including, pathogen surveillance, fast replacement of rust resistant wheat varieties through accelerated seed multiplication and promotion. CIMMYT with funds from BMGF, DFID and USAID have been working with the national research and extension program to implement different projects since 2008. Several high-yielding rust-resistant wheat varieties have been introduced, developed, released and deployed in collaboration with the national program. Federal and regional research centres, private and public seed enterprises and community-based seed associations were engaged in accelerated seed multiplication. Seeds of rust resistant wheat varieties have been promoted to small scale farmers through demonstration, field days and scaling-up. Awareness has also been raised among development agents and farmers on disease identification, management, seed system and agronomic practices. Model farmers who used seeds of rust-resistant wheat varieties with recommended agronomic practices attained 4 - 6 t/ha in major wheat growing areas. Due to the joint intervention of government and non-government research and development institutions, average farm yield has increased from 1.7 t/ha in 2008 to 2.8 t /ha in 2017. The authors discuss interventions, approaches and contribution of CIMMYT and its partners to enhance wheat production in the country in the last decade.