According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report, performance of the Ethiopian economy as a whole is highly correlated with effectiveness of the agricultural sector. Having a share of roughly 44 percent of GDP, agriculture employs approximately 80 percent of the workforce and accounts for 70 percent of export earnings.
The largest share of export value comes from cash crops such as coffee and sesame as well as livestock, which contributes 47 percent to agricultural GDP and 85 percent of farm cash income. Land degradation, deforestation and drought are among the most severe challenges for agriculture in Ethiopia. The majority of farmers are small holders, with 85 percent of households farming less than 2 hectares and 40 percent less than 0.5 hectares. From this small plot, most produce only half of their annual food intake requirements.
Fertilizer use in Ethiopia has increased but yields have been constrained by a limited variety of increasingly costly imported fertilizers, namely urea and di-ammonium phosphate (DAP). Therefore, having reliable and sustainable agricultural inputs is fundamental to expedite the country’s economic development and transitions towards industrialization.
The Ministry of Agriculture announced that the agricultural inputs supply and distribution work is going effectively for this harvest season 2021/22. The ministry aspires to meet the farmers with chemical fertilizer and chemical pesticide demand for this crop season. However, the Covid-19 pandemic and other transportation problems are challenging the timely agricultural inputs supply.
Currently, the Ministry is working focusing on the supply of inputs for the current harvest seasons especially the supply and distribution of fertilizers and seeds.Ministry of Agriculture State Minister for Agricultural Inputs Aynalem Nigusie said that the demand for agricultural inputs has been steadily increasing. The current fiscal year’s chemical fertilizer supply shows a 24.6 percent or 3.5 million quintals increase from the past harvest season.
She said 18.1 million quintals of fertilizer is being transported to the country through timely bidding and procurement process. The government has already accomplished its target of the fiscal year in which the total agricultural inputs supply will be completed by mid-June and distributed for the farmers.
In addition, 1.4 million liters of chemical pesticide are being procured and 1.2 million quintals of improved seeds have been procured from the states. The government is working hard to increase the production and productivity of farmers by providing timely inputs and resolving possible problems by the harvest season.
According to her, the current Ethiopia’s national fertilizer, chemical pesticide, improved seed, and other agricultural inputs application on crops is not said to be that much prominent while comparing with other developed countries chemical fertilizers consumption and application on crops per hectare of land.
Since the country has no fertilizer industry, it imports fertilizers with hard currency. Ethiopia has been importing urea, a source of nitrogen, and DAP, a source of nitrogen and phosphorus for the last 50 years. Thus, the farmers here are not using the recommended amount of chemical fertilizer and chemical pesticide as well as anti-weed chemicals per hectare.
Apart from utilizing the chemical fertilizer, farmers are advised to consume more organic soil fertilizer as it can be made from local materials with available technology. It is low cost. It causes no pollution, rather it has a positive impact on the microbiology of soils, and can help to manage organic wastes, the minister recommended.
However, the quantity of organic fertilizer production is low, and it is difficult to scale production up to levels that would meet all fertilizer needs of the farmers countrywide. Practicing massive organic agriculture might be difficult but producing strategically selected basic crops, fruits and vegetables via organic agriculture is also advisable.
The Ministry has been undertaking massive capacity building on pesticide chemicals application from federal up to kebele level which is among the top priorities of the Ministry to halt destructive insects on crops. Crop professionals from the federal level are well acquainted to help regional, zonal, woreda and kebele professionals along with curbing crop damaging and promote production and productivity.
Undertaking successive crop protection, survey surveillance and expertise advices provision to the farmers help keep crops grow healthy and meet the target productivity. Experts indicate that Ethiopia’s climate is favorable to agriculture. Therefore, the vast arable land in the country needs lower amount agricultural inputs such as soil fertilizer and chemical pesticide.
In addition to this vast fertile land with untapped water resource makes the country proper for irrigation and agriculture. The availability of enough water supplies, arable land as well as government’s commitment to the sector and competitive human power are among the great opportunities to widen small and large scale irrigation in the country.
Researches also indicate that the country has a potential of total arable land of more than 70 million hectares in which the nation is able to exploit only 12 million hectares of land. The population engaged in agriculture is estimated to be 80 million. Some years back the country has introduced ‘Water Master Plan’ to be adopted and implemented for cultivating a bumper irrigation projects throughout the country. The construction of mega irrigation projects in different parts of the country expected to harness the agriculture sector potential and enable self-food sufficiency and boost supply into the global market.
Experts recommend that appropriate application of chemical fertilizers should be based on both agro-ecology of the crop and the soil type. Each plant variety requires a different optimal combination of nutrients, and research in this area is ongoing. Soil testing is essential in determination of site-specific nutrient amendments. Amongst other disadvantageous impacts, improper application of chemical fertilizers can reduce the populations of microorganisms in the soil, which can threaten overall long-run soil health.
BY TEWODROS KASSA
The Ethiopian Herald May 9/2021
