BY DANIEL ALEMAYEHU
The museum of Africa depicts the inundated natural resources of the continent has been exploited by colonizers, and this evil deed made Africa unable to cope with the pressure in the modern world. It is the fact that Africa has been suffering from various drought and famine along with different natural and manmade disasters in different times. With all those challenges that the continent has been encountering, African nations are still trying their best to give responses to their challenges.
In good truth, though the continent is blessed with the fountain of both man- made and natural resources, African nations were unable to satisfy the needs to fill up their bellies; however, attempts have been made by most nations to curb the situation. To this reason, most African nations are calling for aid from other countries. In various scenarios, such aid and support have become a national threat as the providers could ask untouchable national demands. In the present climate, the question of independency and living under one’s own umbrella has a direct link to food security.
Sad it may sound; Africans have been abused by those providers and African nations open the path for providers to take whatever they want to take. At this point, the African continent must find a quick fix and say ‘NO MORE!’ to all the unwarranted pressures and operations on sovereign states of Africa. Aid makes a nation weak and unable to stand on its feet. That was what happened to Ethiopia.
The so-called suppliers of aid and superpowers of the world turned their back on Ethiopia when the country was crying for help. Such challenges made the nation ready to face any upcoming pressures and gave the strength to exert its utmost effort to work on the lope holes of the nation instead of bowing down for the needs of aid providers.
That was the reason why Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) initiated summer and irrigation based wheat production programs to alleviate the local demand. Fortunately, nation’s attempts have borne fruits and showed the capacity and potential that the people and the country could change anything to positive. The best experience, now-a-days, might be the Ethiopian way of answering its demand of wheat production as the nation has become one of the top-listed wheat producer nations in Africa.
In recent times, the Government of Ethiopia has left no stone unturned to satisfy its demands regarding wheat productions. Coupled with stakeholders, the government has been working on promoting the expansion of wheat and other agricultural products by supporting farmers to be aware of the advantages and providing the necessary equipment.
In addition to wheat production, Ethiopia, at this time, has also scored better in rice, avocado, maize, and other cereals productions. The government is working tirelessly on the advancement of mechanized farming to upscale the quality and quantity of agricultural productions.
In a previous report, having stayed with a local media, State Minister of Agriculture, Meles Mekonnen (PhD) explained, wheat production is cost- effective for Ethiopia. Therefore, in 2022/23, regions have selected 2.8 million hectares of land for wheat production, and 2.6 million hectares of land is covered by wheat seeds. In addition, around 1.6 million hectares of land out of 2.6 million is selected for intensive wheat cluster production. “We are also expecting more arable lands in Bale and other places. We will give special attention for cotton production in some parts of the country especially in Afar,” the state minister added.
Meles said: “In 2022/23, local consumption is estimated around 97 million quintals. Again, we plan to produce more than 107 million quintals of wheat. This means, we will have extra product around 10 million quintals of wheat. We can export and generate around 390 million USD. In order to achieve our goals, we need to be committed. We must work on the market system. We need to fight the challenges and misdeeds observed in the market.”
In an actual fact, the Ethiopian Government has exerted its maximum effort to achieve its goal to answer the local demand of wheat products and lifting its potential to exporting standards. To change the idea to reality, the government has been working to making the trading and exchange system easily accessible to export agricultural products. One of the tools to make the process easy is working on the system implemented in trading and exchange areas.
Having stayed with the Ethiopian Press Agency (EPA), ECX Corporate Communication Head, Netsanet Tesfaye has explained the activities that are being carried out by the institution. He said that the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange has been active for the past 15 years in Ethiopian trade system. It started its service by trading 2 agriculture products namely wheat and maize, and at this time, it trades more than 17 agricultural products including coffee, sesame, and other spices. The institution has specific goals including making farmers advantageous, and it is building a systematic and modern or electronic way of doing business assisted by technology. Currently, the institution has 25 different branches across the country, and 6 of them are fully electronic. Such expansion of branches has created plenty job opportunities for young citizens.
Netsanet noted that in the course of the exchange, responsible stakeholders including customs bureaus, National Bank of Ethiopia, and Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration are all informed about the whole process. In this regard, every party; the farmer, the exporter, and the supplier, will pass through the tax system of the country. The institution, as to the head, has been taking numerous ways to uplift the entire system of doing business. The act of amending and fixing its rules and regulation for over 13 times could be a textbook example. Such action shows the institution’s eagerness to make the system easy for its customers, he added.
According to Netsanet, the nation is at the better position in exporting agriculture products including wheat. When the institution became operational, Ethiopia was able to export wheat and maize, but the wheat exchange was stopped due to shortage of the product. Now, the nation is ready to bring its wheat product to the center.
The institution has prepared a document called ‘Product Contract’ to make the wheat and other agriculture products eligible for the export trade system. The document, Netsanet remarked, was returned after scholars and experts added ideas and recommendations for better practice.
This time, ECX is waiting for an answer from Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration to approve the document so that the institution can start exporting cereals including wheat to global markets. “A trading guide has been prepared to introduce the commodities into the marketing system taking into account their role for foreign currency earnings and increase agricultural production and productivity,” Netsanet noted.
The Communication Head further explained that a number of efforts have been made and several are in the pipeline to trade other agricultural commodities and species to the world market as the demand is observed. The actions and decision made by the institution has greatly supported the overall advancement of production and productivity of the nation’s agriculture sector.
It is the fact that there is great demand for agricultural products in the global markets like rice and beans, and these products are being produced in a sufficient amount in Ethiopia. To help the nation secure its benefits from exporting those crops to the global markets, Netsanet stressed, the government and other responsible stakeholders are working to satisfy the demand.
In relation to wheat export, the communication head disclosed that the wheat production and the issue of exporting it to the world market have got a special attention. He also mentioned that there are a number of organizations that have extended their support the program for it have brought tangible results and effective.
Similarly, as the stakeholders are focusing on exporting agricultural products to foreign markets, there is huge demand in local markets, too. “For those factories that are working on pasta and macaroni products, we are planning to substitute the wheat demand that they have imported from outside with local wheat products. It will help the factories produce past, macaroni, and flour products to domestic consumption. This act of substituting export products with local ones brings tremendous advantages to the nation,” Netsanet said.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 23 DECEMBER 2022
