• Center eyes to reduce maintenance, unnecessary costs
ADDIS ABABA — In collaboration with other stakeholders, the Ethiopian Conformity Assessment Enterprise installed a National Pump and Engine Testing Center that will test and verify the quality and standards of imported and locally produced small scale irrigation pumps and engines before the distribution to household farmers.
In the inauguration ceremony yesterday, Enterprise Director General Teshale Belihu told The Ethiopian Herald that since the irrigation water pumps and engines are of poor quality, farmers and semi-pastoralists have been exposed to maintenance and unnecessary costs.
According to Teshale, 42,000 of the 210,000 imported irrigation water pumps and engines are damaged and remained out of use. Thus, it is mandatory to inspect and certify the quality and standard of imported water pump and engines before use; it will improve farmers’ productivity, he added.
State Minister of Agriculture Kabba Urgessa (Ph.D) on his part said that it is important to modernize Ethiopia’s farming practices, increase agricultural productivity, and to get out of rain-fed farming system.
As to the State Minister, about one million farmers in the country are leading their lives on irrigation farms. Of these, 400 thousand of them are beneficiaries of small scale water pumps and engines, he stated.
The State Minister also said that it is important to enhance agricultural productivity through building the capacity of farmers, not to be discouraged by the obstacles they face while the engines get damaged and go out of service. Therefore, the establishment of the testing center will play a vital role in ensuring farmers’ advantage and modernize the farming system, he said.
It was learnt that the Enterprise has launched a National Testing Center in cooperation with other stakeholders such as Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Trade, and governments of Canada and the Netherlands, with the aim of addressing the problems permanently through providing quality irrigation pumps and engines to farmers.
The Ethiopian Herald Jan 25, 2020
BY ZELALEM GIRMA
