ADDIS ABABA- The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock said several irrigation projects are well underway in several parts of the country. Elias Awole, Ministry Small Scale Irrigation Development Expansion Director told The Ethiopian Herald that the ministry has been carrying out two irrigation development programs with the support of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Bank.
The two irrigation programs, whose project life time extends to five and seven years, were commenced two and half years ago and are expected to enable farmers to develop 68,000 hectares of land. Each irrigation project under the two programs has a capacity of developing five to 200 hectares of land. So far, 60 to 70 percent of the construction works have been finalized, he added.
The projects are taking place at a cost of over 300 million USD and the ministry would release the fund to states based on execution performance. As to him, the country has registered better irrigation performance during GTPII as compared to GTP I. But, project delay remains a challenge. So, the Ministry is undergoing project supervision and follow up so as to address the challenges observed in the area.
Mentoring farmers about the benefit of irrigation development projects and developing a sense of ownership are some of the ways to protect irrigation tunnels, he said. The ministry has prepared and been disseminating national directives in order to control quality issues.
Abdela Negash, Ministry Horticulture Development, and Transformation Director said out of the planned two million hectares of land, it was managed to develop some 1.98 million hectares of land during the first phase of GTP II, he said. Consultative forums have also been organized to support state agriculture offices and compensate for the delays in the first phase.
Consequently, the ministry is expecting to see better execution performance in the second phase. Some 25 million quintals of crop are expected to be harvested in the first phase.
The Ethiopian Herald, March 28/2019
BY GIRMACHEW GASHAW
