ADDIS ABABA-Harere State Agriculture Bureau said that it is working to address food insecurity which is likely to come about due to deceleration of agriculture following COVID-19.
Shami Abdi Ahmed, Bureau Deputy Head told The Ethiopian Press Agency the state is deliberating mechanisms as to how to avert the likelihood of food shortage in the region involving various segments of the state who have remarkable stake, financiers, non-governmental organizations and farmers.
Indicating that the global pandemic’s adversities on the agrarian community, he insisted that the sector urges immediate reaction through widening opportunities to produce more yields as the time to come would bring a potential disaster to the region.
Hence the state has set to develop additional farms coupled with the existing 904 hectares which was exploited for agriculture in the state.
Shielding the farmer from the pandemic is an integral part of sustaining development and ensuring food security. The state has launched a comprehensive intervention to boost agriculture along with devising preventive strategies against the current catastrophe from the bureau down to lower administrative units.
Having benefited 40 thousand people in Harere regularly, the state’s Risk Disaster Prevention and Safety net has identified 62,000 in rural and 87,000 in urban areas that need food security intervention.
The state has formed a committee drawn from the society, NGOs, businessmen, and donors to react to food shortages that might occur in relation to COVID-19.
According to the deputy head, the state has envisaged swift shipment of fertilizers and striving to address shortage of selected seeds.
The Ethiopian Herald May 28, 2020
BY LAKACHEW ATINAFU
