In a bid to bridge the agricultural inputs timely supply gap, The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) said it is working in concert with local importers parallel to monitoring their activities with continuous follow-ups.
In line with the 2019 Agriculture calendar of Ethiopia, MoA had imported 1,152,528.80 meteric tone fertilizer and 653,439.18 quintal best seeds, which are distributed to farmers through agricultural development workers and offices found at every layer of the country, noted Seifu Asefa Director at MoA Ethiopia Inputs Marketing Directorate.
The inputs ordering and importing are under serious follow-ups from import and distribution to in between tasks. The doling out task will be carried out in different channels of the country.
Among the bottlenecks in the timely supply of inputs are found transportation problem and its cost, scarcity of select-seeds, lack of additional loans for the ordering of those different soil fertilizer kinds and inability to defray accumulated debt.
Curently, MoA is working round the clock with importers to thwart the strangleholds on the punctual supply of agricultural inputs. It strives to step up the productivity level of the agricultural sector of the country thereby cover the local consumption of citizens by own agricultural yields, he stressed.
The Ministry has also come up with solutions to identify problems that trump down agricultural productivity nationwide. Top on the solution list is found discussing with concerned organs to troubleshoot all problems that drag the productivity back. Furthermore, training has been provided for experts and host farmers on large-scale demonstration and community-based seed system.
This activity calls for the cooperation of different concerned bodies, for this stakeholders’ meeting will be organized in the near future so as to ensure own crops supply and stabilize the market demand, he added.
According to the Director, the badly-needed inputs were being imported by the government alone. But from now on things will be handled in collaboration with private importers. The government is playing the following-up and supporting role, he also said.
The government is doing its level best to facilitate capacity development for agricultural product improvement in Ethiopia working hands-in-glove with stakeholders to sustainably meet the demand for crops and for market.
The Ethiopian Herald September 1/2019
BY MUSSA MUHAMMED
