ADDIS ABABA- Some 31 million quintals of rice product is expected to be harvested in Somali State this crop season, State’s Agriculture Bureau announced.
Bureau Deputy Head Ahmednur Abdi told Ethiopian Press Agency (EPA) that the region is expanding rice agriculture through time and about 31 million quintals of product is expected to be harvested this agricultural season.
The state has planned to harvest the product from 3000 hectares of farmland that would be cultivated this season, which has been forecasted to remain rainy until October, he said.
According to Abdi, researches to improve rice seed are also underway while several crop specious, including maize, sorghum and wheat are being familiarized to the region.
The Bureau has distributed improved seeds amounted in quintal 20 thousand maize and sorghum, and 10 thousand wheat to farmers. There would be no fertilizer demand as the soil is too fertile to rainy season cultivation. As to the Head, the number of farmers developing cultivation skills in both rainy and dry seasons as well as through irrigation mechanisms is growing.
The rice production in Somali state is part of the national initiative to achieve food sovereignty and to substitute crop import marking new shift for economic transformation in Ethiopia, the Head expressed.
BY STAFF REPORTER
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2024
