Ethiopia though has a long history of farming dating back to for over thousands of years; even these days its agricultural practice has not developed at the desired level. In fact, the country is endowed with plenty of agricultural potentials with diverse climatic zones, fertile soil, ground water resources, and vast areas of arable lands and large population who could make differences if properly harnessed.
Now a days, the population of the country is estimated to be hundred ten millions which is huge population in Africa next to Nigeria.
Tsedeke Abate (PhD), Former Head of Ethiopian Agricultural Research Institute (EARI), told the Ethiopian Herald that, agriculture for Ethiopia means almost everything when it comes to the socio-economic wellbeing of the country.
Almost all of the services that the country used for different means are highly dependent on agricultural products which call for more due attention. Nation’s food security, export earnings, raw material supply for manufacturing industries and others are highly dependent on agriculture. In order to increase the agricultural productivity thereby to boost up the country’s export earning, the government has to deploy the necessary technology, he said.
Tsedeke, who has also a wide range of experience in agricultural research and development areas in both local and international arenas where he was involved in different countries across the world in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, added that in spite of all these resources, the country still imports different agricultural products, such as wheat, sugar, and others every years spending a huge amount of hard currency.
The ever growing amount of imported agricultural products signifies that the human population in Ethiopia is growing much faster than food production and the food supply is not growing in proportion with the demand. This is a serious mismatch and it has its own social, economic, and political implications, he indicated.
As to him, the consequences of rapid population growth are already being felt in both urban and rural areas by way of dwindling agricultural land, overcrowded in urban areas, increasing food prices and cost of living, he clarified.
Even though providing adequate food, shelter and other requirements for a rapidly growing population poses a great challenge, policy makers in Ethiopia can turn around the challenges to growth trajectory by conducting connecting the assets with the skilled workforce, applying findings of researches made on the sector and employing state of the art technology.
These days, modern farming practices are being used in many parts of the world. However, Ethiopian farmers even these days are using ancient tools for agricultural activities and are following underdeveloped farming practices. Modernizing Ethiopian agriculture requires beyond a mere change of the tools. It needs a total transformation.
Mentioning that the government has made a number of efforts to modernize the sector, he said that over the past decades significant strides have been observed. For instance, the production of maize, kidney beans, wheat, and chickpea is also growing though still much remains.
Over the past four to five years, country’s annual importation for agricultural products has been larger than its exportation. To boost productivity, enhance sector’s performance, improve its competiveness and increase its economic contribution, it should be mechanized and supported by new technology.
To achieve this, joining forces among the government, agricultural specialists, development partners, pertinent bodies and stakeholders to address the immediate need of the farmers and attain the desired goals. Equally, it is important to strengthen environment protection and conservation efforts, and expanding the coverage of infrastructures.
“The government has to establish national taskforce by envisioning and setting nation’s agriculture goals within the coming 20 – 30 years. Since the population of the country is increasing fast, we have to ask ourselves how we can manage and deal with the need of the ever increasing huge population – how to sustainably ensure food security, generate income, substitute import product and the like,” he opined.
The current agricultural system and farming practices that the farmers are following will not able to do this and it is important to modify them and introduce new technologies. It is better to be assisted by technology, research and knowledge, he further said.
Lecturer of Economics at Addis Ababa University Dr. Befekadu Degefe for his part said that, increasing productivity is base for all especially in curbing inflation and stabilizing market as well as satisfying the need of society in general.
The main cause for inflation directly or indirectly interrelated with shortage of productivity. Some self-centered and irresponsible traders stockpile products assuming that there will be shortage of products in the future, he pointed out.
The sector should be assisted by cutting-edge technology to satisfy the need of the society at large and generate the expected output. The population of the country is increasing rapidly which makes the country one of the most populous country in Africa next to Nigeria. As the number of the population increase, the need of each individual will increase; and it will lead to undesirable consequences, he remarked.
While talking about the factors that greatly lower agricultural productivity, he mentioned weak agricultural research policy, poor linkage among government agricultural policy institutions and agricultural research institutions and farmers, limitation to utilize the necessary input aptly.
Furthermore, he added, periodical droughts, land degradation due to overuse and grazing, soil erosion coupled with farmers’ dependence on seasonal rainfall are responsible for low agricultural productivity in Ethiopia. The issue of instability and political crises in some parts of the country has also contributed their part for Ethiopia’s lowest productivity and slow economic growth. However, most of them can be altered easily.
He indicated that, setting up good agricultural system, enhancing farmers’ productivity through supporting them in every possible way, sustaining government, public investments in agricultural technology, promoting irrigation and developing and expanding infrastructure can be the best remedy to mitigate the challenges.
The Ethiopian Herald, November 20/2019
BY HAILE DEMEKE
