Researches indicate that Ethiopia has a total arable land of more than 70 million hectares but it only cultivated 12 million hectares of land. The population engaged in agriculture is estimated to be 80 million. Some years back the country has introduced the ‘Water Master Plan’ to be adopted and implemented for cultivating bumper irrigation projects throughout the country.
Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that preparations are underway to substitute the importation of wheat and rice from abroad within three to five years.
Ministry of Agriculture Crop Development Director Esayas Lema said that the Ministry is working with pertinent stakeholders towards harnessing the country’s agricultural potentials through utilizing the latest agricultural technologies.
As to him, the country since a long time ago has been importing wheat, rice, cooking oil, and other crop products.
To boost crop production more than 400,000 hectares of agricultural land will be cultivated in the coming years with the participation of investors. Special support and priority will be given for irrigation development to achieve the country’s aspirations to meet local demand and supply agricultural products for the global market.
He recalled that wheat production through irrigation activities in the lowland areas has been taking shape in Afar, Somali, Oromia, and Southern Nation Nationalities and Peoples’ states. More than 7 million quintals of wheat have been harvested from 187,000 hectares of land in the last budget year.
More importantly, the government has a plan to replicate the best experiences and strengthen activities to boost irrigation-based lowland wheat production and productivity.
According to him, in the coming years, attention will be given to promoting local and multinational investors’ participation in the agricultural sector in order to increase production and productivity by providing incentives.
Ministry of Agriculture State Minister Meles Mekonnen (Ph.D.) told The Ethiopian Press Agency that, the country has enormous potentials which could transform the agriculture sector. The country is ready to tap the resources, in horticulture, forest, livestock, water, crop among others.
The ministry has prepared its ten-year strategic plan prioritizing the agriculture sector investments. It has already identified 10 major initiatives, interventions, and short-term activities to attain its target, he added.
Currently, the ministry is massively working on the Prime Minister’s 100-days initiative in agricultural extension service, inputs supply, crop protection, and livestock health protections.
On the other hand, it is implementing various programs to ensure the sector’s competitiveness in partnership with Platform for Agricultural Risk Management (PARM).
He further said that PARM promotes the agricultural extension system in the Amhara, Oromia, and Afar regional states. PARM also supports to design of a capacity development plan in agricultural risk management. Based on the experience in the three regions, the Ministry and PARM are in the process of designing a successful investment plan to scale up the capacity building for agricultural risk management. Working with PARM helps to withstand the challenges in the agricultural sector such as drought, animal and crop diseases, and shortage of rain, drought, and market fluctuations. In addition, it helps to identify the chronic problems of the sector.
A platform for Agricultural Risk Management (PARM) Technical Specialist Jean Claude (Ph.D.) told this article writer that, strengthening Agricultural Risk Management (ARM) through capacity development and investment is fundamental to ensure the sector’s competitiveness in the national economy.
The prevalence and complexity of multiple risks affect agricultural systems, and the failure to adequately address them on a holistic and integrated basis left many countries in Africa that, their agricultural sectors, and rural livelihoods to be extremely vulnerable. Subsequently, the foregoing is jeopardizing the entire economies as agriculture still accounts for one-third of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and three-quarters of employment in many African countries.
As to him, agriculture is a risky business and the extreme weather condition and the Covid-19 pandemic critically affect the sector in Africa. ARM is one of the most powerful ways available to develop agriculture, reduce global poverty and hunger, and contribute to social inclusion through smart management, he added.
“ARM plays a pivotal role to improve the livelihood of the rural poor and ensuring sustainable and healthy food systems in the fastest-growing African population.
The ministry of agriculture as well as other technical and financial partners is expected to work jointly to identify, provide solution-oriented initiatives on capacity building in addition, to tackle agriculture and risk-related problems and promote agricultural investment,” he said.
In addition, to increase production and productivity, extension workers have been provided with capacity-building training on how to identify the challenges of the sector.
The training also focused on properly identifying and redressing the chronic problems of the sector. Sowing fast-growing crops and varieties in drought-prone areas would alleviate the problems of the agricultural sector. Water harvesting is another way to reduce the challenge in areas where there is a shortage of water, he recommended.
The organization has been able to identify major challenges in Ethiopia’s agricultural sector by focusing on capacity building in Amhara, Oromia, Tigray and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ regions from 2015 to 2018. It also helps to build the capacity of professionals by identifying the challenges surrounding natural resource conservation, agriculture and livestock.
Currently, farmers nations widely recognized the benefits of producing market-oriented fruit and vegetables as well as export-oriented cash crops. The development of horticulture crops through irrigation is better than that of seed crops. The farmers across the country also witnessed the tangible role of the sector to improve their way of life. Expanding sustainable irrigation mechanisms requires determined moves of the sector practitioners assisted with competent researchers, agricultural extension workers, and increased stakeholders’ participation.
The experts recommended that promoting modern and technologically assisted irrigation farming practice should be done by prioritizing a wide range of irrigation to bring a paradigm shift in the sector in which enables transforming and developing the pastoral and rain shortage areas. The country should work aggressively on transiting from a rain-fed agricultural system to an irrigation reliable agricultural system through dedication. The farmers have noticed a visible production and productivity increment through utilizing irrigation.
Currently the ministry is undertaking mechanized and small-scale irrigation development countrywide. The introduction of easily operational irrigation technologies is also showing remarkable progress in the farmers’ field.
According to the experts, insecticides, immigrant weed, long market channel, lack of well-trained and skilled human powers on irrigation, inadequate budget and limitations to plant new irrigation investments are the sector bottlenecks. The availability of a good climate, fertile land with untapped water resources, and proper land and investment policies as well as vast human powers and increased initiations and high demand for irrigation by the farmers can be taken as a great opportunity to scale up small and large scale irrigation in the country.
BY TEWODROS KASSA
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD NOVEMBER 2/2021
