Owing to agriculture’s importance, and the potential it offers for growth, successive governments in Ethiopia have prioritized agriculture to ensure food and nutrition security, and economic growth. Also it is crystal clear that Ethiopia’s economy is mainly dependent on agriculture. From its day to day supply to export commodity, the contribution of agriculture takes the highest share. And the nation’s development plan also has given major emphasis to agriculture in order to support the industrialization.
However, the sector is struggling with a number of challenges which threaten nation’s development aspiration. Despite some internal and external challenges in which the country is experiencing currently, the government is working aggressively in order to modernize the agriculture for increasing the sector’s day to day effort to meet the public consumption and its economic contribution to the country. As a result, its contribution to the national economy is being increased from time to time.
For instance, the Ministry of Agriculture recently announced that the agricultural export has generated 2.28 billion USD in the past nine months of the current Ethiopian fiscal year, adding that the amount covers 70 percent of Ethiopia’s 3.29 billion USD total export revenue in the reported period.
Presenting the sector’s nine-month performance report before the House of People’s Representatives recently, Agriculture Minister Umar Hussein said successive efforts to promote agricultural products export market, agricultural mechanization have contributed greatly for the aforementioned success.
Planning to export 9.78 million tons of agricultural products which have international standard to the international market, the ministry has achieved 8.21 million tons (84 percent) of its plan. Accordingly, this year’s export income shows 388 million USD increment over the past year’s similar period, in which coffee (45 percent), flower (19 percent), and others (37 percent) take the leading share in Ethiopia’s agricultural export.
In addition, the country has harvested 336.6 million quintals by the crop calendar, while 1.8 million hectares of land have been cultivated by the winter irrigation program and 14.03 million quintals of wheat has been harvested. More importantly, considering its potentials compared to other coffee growing countries, the country has given due priority to increase its coffee production and productivity through participating private investors, the minister noted.
According to Umer, coffee is the most important commodity among agricultural exports. He said that coffee production accounted for 45 percent of the total exports in the first nine months of the current fiscal year. He further stated that there is a serious shortage of financing for agricultural exports, adding that more efforts will be made to address the problem.
Mentioning that quality is crucial along with increasing agricultural exports, he accentuated his office has exported 710,364 tons of agricultural products through making serious inspection. This came true because of the Ministry’s well managed plan to ensure the health, quality and safety of 682 thousand tons to agricultural product. Therefore, the achievement exceeds the plan, he explained.
Similarly, more than 12,000 safety certificates have been issued for exported plant productions. According to the Ministry, pre-slaughter and post-slaughter inspections of exported meat products have also been carried out.
In accordance with agricultural mechanization, the Minister underscored that it was able to afford 1.1 million mechanization technologies through providing tax exemption certificate for 493 importers. As to him, 168,697 Pumps, 967 tractors, 1,043 accessories, 270 modernizes flail, 1,062 versatile flounder and dremel machine as well as 11,000 incubators are among the new mechanized technologies which the Ministry has afforded.
Moreover, the Ministry has also held consultations workshop with regions and stakeholders about market stalemates on cereals like teff, corn vegetables as well as other agricultural products, parallel with agricultural mechanization program.
Participants of the workshop pointed out the interference of brokers and inadequate food production are some of the roots of food inflation, which has periodically put pressure on society. Various efforts are also being made to address the problem, such as the Sunday market, where the farmer and consumer directly connected, and the Union’s work to the community is a starting point. However, strong integrated work between the farmers and consumers should be applied for the effective result in balancing the cost of food within the society.
By the same token, participants requested the government to work more on providing better technologies for supporting the farmer and the production as well. Being thankful for the government’s effort on the adopting new mechanized agricultural technologies, they are agreed to import more technologies through using the government’s pledge implemented on making tax free in importing such technologies. Finally, the participants agreed that all stakeholders should work responsibly to increase agricultural productivity by using modern technology to offset the increasing cost of food.
It was also learnt that the Ministry of Finance (MoF) approved the imports of agricultural mechanization, irrigation and animal feed technologies, and equipment to be tax-free. The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) initiated the tax reform policy by conducting a cost-benefit analysis and identified and listed the equipment to be imported tax-free.
Based on the study recommendation by ATA, the Agricultural Transformation Council provided direction to facilitate farmers’ access to agricultural technologies which will ensure food security at the household level and national nutrition development, the MoA formally submitted the tax wavering request in December 2018. And the reformist government has directly approved the policy.
This tax reform is aimed at enhancing the agriculture sector by removing duty and taxes on imports of farming machinery, irrigation and drainage equipment as well as animal feed ingredients and technologies; providing incentives to invest in the importation and local production of these technologies.
Despite the big potential of agriculture in Ethiopia, the low level of engineering technology input in the sector has been one of the main constraints hindering the modernization of the country’s agriculture and food production systems, Mekonen Abera, economist said.
As to him, to solve the challenges and flourish the sector, the national mechanization strategy approved by the government is very significant to increase national food production and security through enhanced and sustainable use of agricultural mechanization technologies. Besides he mentioned that as the overall economic growth of the country depends on the performance of agriculture and, a number of agricultural development strategies and plans shall be formulated for better result.
According to him, to achieve the goal of economic development plan, mechanization of the agriculture is mandatory and to this end, the concerned bodies should empower the farmers to use modern technology to undertake agricultural tasks by working together with the every stakeholder.
He underscored that as the highest contributions of agricultural products come from smallholder farmers, the government has put a clear agricultural development strategy that gives due emphasis to smallholder farmers. And provision of improved technology to smallholder farmers and commercialization of small scale farming is the basis of the development strategy, he added.
While appreciating the last nine month’s performance of the Ministry of Agriculture, the economist highlighted that the mechanization works particularly made by the Ministry has played significant changes for increasing the demand of Ethiopia’s agricultural products to the world market. Mechanization is a better way for further increasing the product and productivity of the farmers, he accentuated.
As the agricultural products export covers 70 percent of the total generated amount during the past nine months, the Ministry, the government, and all stakeholders in the sector should work hand in glove for increasing the day to day consumption of the society as well as supporting the nation’s economic growth, he pointed out
Agricultural exports generates 2.28 billion USD in the past nine months, covers 70 percent of Ethiopia’s 3.29 billion USD total export revenue
BY HIZKEL HAILU
The Ethiopian Herald 12 June 2022
