The past three years in the water, irrigation and energy sector is aimed at enabling a dignified life to our citizens by meeting basic needs,” Prime Minister Abiy wrote on his Face-Book account a couple of days back.
The Office of the Prime Minister noted that a total of 56,790 urban and rural drinking water supply facilities have been completed and readied for use by more than 15 million citizens in urban and rural areas of the country.
The office added that over the past three years, 16 billion Birr loan has been granted in the form of loan from various international financial institutions to avail finance for water supply and sanitation infrastructure development in 72 towns.
In addition, the Office noted that Gibe 3 hydropower plant (1,870 MW), the Genale Dawa 3 hydroelectric power plant (254 MW) and the Repi Waste to Energy plant (25 MW) have been completed and put to use.
Currently, 4,466 MW electric powers and a total of 19,746 km transmission lines are in operation, it said adding that more than 875, 000 citizens have access to on-grid electric services and more than 1,100 rural towns have managed to have access to electricity.
By solving the problem associated with the reduction of government expenditure, four irrigation dams and irrigation systems namely, Ribb, Gidabo, Meki Ziway and Megech-Serba have been completed to develop 4,044 hectares of land, benefiting 56, 946 farmers, the Office stated.
As I have stated in my pervious contributions, the Ethiopian government is embarking on irrigation development over the next 10 years by developing more than 30 million hectares of irrigable land and this year the government is planning to engage in large and medium scale development by developing irrigation schemes on 2 million hectares mostly in the lowland areas of the country.
This report issued by the Office of the Prime Minister denotes that the CRGE Policy and Strategy issued by the government in 2011 is being implemented successfully not only in the areas of the generation of hydroelectric power but also indicates that water potentials of the country is being utilized for the national effort in promoting food security in the country.
The implementation of national water, sanitation and hygiene programs are of critical importance over the last several decades primarily because they are properly mainstreamed in the county’s health development programs. These programs are instrumental in reducing the rate of the prevalence of water borne diseases in the country. Besides proper development and consumption of fruits and vegetables at household level will help to markedly reduce illness among children triggered by micronutrient deficiencies.
Provision of potable water in schools across the country has not only contributed to the promotion of better health standards among school children but has markedly promoted an environmentally suitable condition for enhancing quality education at schools in urban and rural areas of Ethiopia.
Achievements registered over the last three years effectively comply with Agenda 2063 as a socio-economic strategy for Africa over a period of five decades primary focuses on ensuring environmentally sustainable and climate resilient economies, bio-diversity, conservation and sustainable natural resource management , water security, climate resilience and a natural disaster preparedness, modern agriculture for increased productivity and production shows a regional policy compliance for Ethiopia’s larger development programs in which GERD will be used as a conveyor belt for sustainable energy resource across the region.
Ethiopia is endowed with 12 river basins that are yet to be fully utilized. Most of these river basins are located in the north-west, west and south west of the country. These basins are also associated with highlands that are geographically suited for generation of electric power while rivers flowing east and south east have potentials for huge irrigation schemes
Over the last three years, the government started a massive irrigation scheme with the vision of substituting imports of wheat by producing dry land wheat through irrigation I hitherto unused thousands of hectares of land across the country. This enables agro-industrial parks and private food processing
plants to manufacture value added food products for local use and imports.
Besides economic development programs that are based on the water resources of the country will enable the government to store enough relief food reserve to be utilized for stabilizing food prices and also to address the food needs of moisture stress areas of the country during recurrent droughts.
Researches indicate that Ethiopia has the potential of 112 million hectares irrigable land but only about 3 to 4% of this is utilized. The government needs to encourage the private sector here and abroad to participate in the development of huge irrigation schemes that focus not only on grain crops but also on horticulture and production of livestock fodder for livestock that can be utilized during the onset of drought situation in semi-arid areas of the country.
Apart from using available water resources, programs that focused on water harvesting during the rainy season need to be reinstated to meet the special water needs for instance in Somali Regional State and in Tigray. The construction of household managed ponds and micro dam construction programs at community levels particularly in Tigray need to be considered.
For instance, the Ethiopian flagship project, GERD upon completion in about two years will introduce a paradigm shift in Ethiopia’s socio-economic development by reaching out to Ethiopian women and children who have so far denied of electric power to light up their houses.
Water and poor Ethiopian farmers with their patches of their farmlands have continued to determine the livelihood of the Ethiopian population as well the agriculture led economy of the country for ages. Although the government is striving for the formation of industry led economy through, among others, the development of industry and agro-industry parks, over the next decade, agriculture will certainly dominate the Ethiopian economy. Irrigation will play a decisive role in the sector.
Considering the above mentioned achievements over the last three years, it is also appropriate to consider the challenges ahead.
With the ill-conceived sanctions imposed by the US government with the objective of frustrating development efforts by the government, it is very important to further maximize efforts towards developing current and future energy resources by seeking alternative budget resources to complete the existing projects.
Diversification of energy resources of the country and developing more irrigation projects in lowland areas of the country by establishing more schemes based on drip irrigation, the government should be able to generate more foreign currency to fill the gaps to be created through the sanctions.
Nonetheless, more practical efforts need to be made in involving Ethiopian farmers on agricultural modernization with expectations of more measurable results. The government should come up with more impacting multi-faced interventions not only in the agriculture sector but also in the manufacturing sector through sustained provision of hydroelectric power free from power outage.
Over the last three years, the government has registered commendable results in ONE WASH program in cooperation with local and international NGOs. This has to continue over the next ten years to ensure that potable water and sanitation programs will cover the entire country.
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald
BY SOLOMON DIBABA
The Ethiopian Herald 29 May 2021
