Ethiopia has designed and is implementing a ten-year perspective development plan that will enable it to grow its economy. Extensive plans have been issued and implemented in agriculture, industry, information technology, tourism and mining sectors, which have been identified as pillars of the homegrown economic reforms. The programs are showing results every year, with some even achieving excellent results.
The country is carrying out many development activities that will increase the productivity of the agricultural sector, especially for its efforts to ensure food security and create a society freed from aid. In this way, it has been able to achieve remarkable results, and it is said that the sector has been able to play a leading role in the economic development of the country as a whole.
FDRE Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) recently confirmed this in his explanation to the questions raised by members of the House of People’s Representatives. According to him, last year, growth of the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 8.1% higher than expected. The agricultural sector has played a leading role in this development. The sector recorded promising growth in the fiscal year. This achievement was because of extensive works in all fields to move the sector to better productivity and to modernize agriculture.
As the Minister of Agriculture, Girma Amente (PhD) said in his recent statement regarding the quarterly performance of the agriculture sector; in the past years, special attention has been paid to increase production and productivity by using the potential in the sector. In addition to these encouraging results, the sector has played an important role in the overall national development.
Based on the past results, the Ministry is striving to record better performance in 2024 harvest season and to ensure the continuity of the contribution of agriculture to the nation’s development. In the first quarter of this fiscal year, encouraging results have been achieved in crops and horticulture, coffee cultivation, green legacy seedling planting, ‘Yelemat Tirufat’, input supply and agricultural trade.
As to him, results from the sector will be a great resource for further work. They lay the foundation for doing more. Efforts are being made to increase production and productivity of crops and horticulture based on Belg, main harvest and irrigation seasons, and it is planned to produce 608 million quintals by cultivating 20,560 hectares of land during the harvest season.
The Minister mentioned that it has been possible to cover 20.4 million hectares of land with seeds. Of this, 11.8 million hectares are cultivated in clusters. He also noted that currently, a crop of 1.7 million hectares of land has been harvested and more than 5.3 million quintals have been produced.
He also pointed out that sesame, almonds, soya beans and others will increase their production significantly. According to the Minister’s explanation; although the agricultural sector is planned to register a growth of 6.1% this year, as of last year’s experience, the current conditions indicate that it is possible to achieve more than the plan. In general, 1.4 billion quintals product is expected by plowing 30 million hectares of land during the production season. It is also planned to earn 2 billion dollars from coffee production in the current year.
At the same time, the Minister pointed out that irrigated wheat has been planned and put into action to produce 173 million quintals by plowing 4.2 million hectares of land in all regions. “Until the middle of October, a total of 850,094 hectares of land has been plowed with traditional methods and tractors, and 505,113 hectares have been covered with seeds,” he said.
He announced that production of 300 million quintals is expected from the 8.2 million hectares of land covered with wheat this winter and summer. In this way, he emphasized that efforts will be made to increase the country’s economy by enhancing productivity.
Regarding input provision; 1.65 million metric tons of fertilizer was distributed during the production period; in the first quarter alone, 512,216.9 metric tons of fertilizer was distributed to farmers.
He said that it is planned to purchase 2,404,729 metric tons of soil fertilizer for irrigation, Belg and harvest seasons, for which 1.3 billion Dollar is approved. It is also planned to supply two million quintals of best seeds in the next production year.
As to Dr. Girma, in the current fiscal year, a growth of 5.4% will be recorded in ‘Yelemat Tirufat’ products, for example, 12 billion liters of milk is expected in the year. The capacity to produce 8 billion chicken eggs, 218,000 tons of meat and 297,000 tons of honey has been created in the year. In order to increase fish production and productivity, it is planned and implemented to increase 1.34 million fish fry in fish farming. It is planned to distribute 2,134,275 million modern beehives to beneficiaries in the fiscal year, and 259,000 modern beehives were distributed in the first quarter.
In relation to animal breeding work, “In terms of liquid nitrogen production in the regions and institutes, it was planned to produce 170,000 liters of liquid nitrogen in the first quarter, and we were able to achieve more than planned by producing 500,000 liters,” he said. In general, Dr. Girma mentioned that a high production has been registered in all fields of green legacy, forestry, vegetables and fruits, and combined agriculture. This was a 33% increase over the same period last year.
Efforts will be made to improve productivity thereby to achieve better in all regions this year by using technologies. He realized that it is believed that this will contribute to the growth of the agricultural sector and increase it to a higher level.
Prime Minister Abiy said that agriculture has brought great revival in the past years. “This year, it is expected to register 6.1% growth,” he said, pointing out that it is possible to record excellent results in the sector. “Five or six years ago, we were cultivating less than 15 million hectares; but now, not only in terms of land area, but also because of our practice of using the summer season widely for irrigation, using cluster, we are expecting a growth of 6.6% in crop production,” he said.
According to the Prime Minister, there was a growth of one million quintals in coffee production. The growth of coffee production increased significantly in the past years. “We know our differences with Vietnam and it is expected that we will be able to produce no less than that in the next few years. This year, after Brazil and Vietnam, Ethiopia is the third largest coffee producing country,” he said.
For the next few years, it is being planned to strengthen the planting of coffee plants and seedling, except for Brazil, there will be no country that exceeds Ethiopia in coffee production. He mentioned that last year 1.4 billion Dollar was obtained from coffee export trade, and this year, two billion Dollar is expected from the sub sector.
The Prime Minister mentioned that this development has started to be seen not only in coffee but also in tea. “Tea is widely planted in southwest Ethiopia; we are getting amazing results. Tea, however, is not sold as a drink by nature. After tea leaves are collected, processing should be done.”
He also stated that preparations are being made for land and seedlings to get three times the amount of tea that has been planted. Considering what has been planted now, he realized that a large number of factories should be established and process, and if this cannot be done, the farmers may lose the market.
Therefore, by talking to private investors and visiting some countries and working to gain experience, an agreement has been reached with the private sector to plant at least 20 tea leaf processing factories. “However, since we are currently planting on a large scale, even twenty processors will not be enough, so many more factories are still needed,” he pointed out.
Dr. Abiy further said that effort will be exerted to secure the results obtained in the agricultural sector. He expressed his belief that if it is possible to expand the development by correcting and reconciling the weak sides, the growth will continue.
Although encouraging results have been recorded in the sector, it is expected to do a lot of homework in terms of the planned development goal of making the country one of the middle-income countries, especially in high quality and quantity production, he underlined.
BY BACHA ZEWDIE
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 7 NOVEMBER 2024
