BY YESUF ENDRIS
ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia’s becoming a wheat exporting country will assist the government’s investment capacity and contribute share in the growing economic dynamism, an expert in the area said.
The government of Ethiopia has recently launched exporting wheat to neighboring countries. Speaking to The Ethiopian Herald, Haramaya University Economics Associate Professor Mola Alemayehu (PhD) said that wheat export will have long term positive outcomes. “In long-term, the government can boost investments using the foreign currency that will be generated from the export.”
This time, surplus production of agricultural commodities including wheat is also a tool to arrest the soaring increase in the price of food items and ease the burden inflation has caused in the livelihoods of low-income communities. The wheat export, however, should be supplemented by extensive agricultural development, he added.
Satisfying the domestic demand for wheat by local domestic production is so vital to stabilize the price of some food items. The academician recommended the government to extend national agricultural initiatives to replicate the summer wheat production in other areas.
“The surplus production of wheat may be satisfactory to the market; however, there is a need to invest in other agricultural crop production. Accordingly, various agricultural initiatives including Yelemat Turufat should be extended.”
Ethiopia officially launched a national wheat export program to its neighbors Djibouti and Kenya. While heralding the launching of wheat export, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (Ph.D.) expressed his government’s achievement in fulfilling promises and made Ethiopia’s wheat export dream a reality.
The Ethiopian Herald February 15/2023
