Ethiopia’s wheat cultivation has saved the foreign currency that the country spends for importation. Apart from meeting the country’s demand for wheat, it enabled to supply to neighboring countries for the first time in its history.
Documents indicate that the success of wheat cultivation has been recognized by various international institutions. Apart from recognition, the African Development Bank has supported the development. The American Foreign Agricultural Bureau described, “Ethiopia’s wheat production is showing great progress and its productivity is increasing.” In the report, this American institution also predicted that Ethiopia would produce 5.7 million tons of wheat in 2022 and 2023.
The cultivation of wheat continued more strongly, especially in summer irrigated wheat cultivation, and it is also known as the start of lowland wheat irrigated cultivation. This development is now continuing strongly in different regions in all climates.
When announcing the wheat export program for the first time in February 2023 in Bale Zone of Oromia Region, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD said; “The process of exporting wheat that we have seen in Bale is the least success we should do for Ethiopia. Because we have been showing what we are doing and planning with green legacy and Renaissance Dam. Now, we have not only stopped importing wheat, but also exported it to the world. We are proud to show the reverse of ‘Ethiopia cannot get rid of wheat aid and export it’” narrative, he said.
The Prime Minister mentioned that all regions contributed significantly to this success. In particular, Oromia, Somali and Amhara regions have announced that they have done a strong job in the cultivation of summer irrigated wheat. He pointed out that more than 250 million people in Africa, including Ethiopia, are in need of help. This is the problem that motivates us to work harder to donate wheat in the name of “Ethiopia Aid”. Ethiopia will play its part in alleviating the wheat market problem in the world.
Meles Mekonen (PhD), State Minister for Agriculture and Horticulture Development in the Ministry of Agriculture said that irrigated wheat cultivation was started five years ago on three hectares of land in one region. But now the development has expanded in every level and spread in almost all regions. It has been possible to reach a total of nine regions by cultivating a large area of agricultural land and increasing the number of beneficiary farmers. In this way, it was possible to cover 1.35 million hectares of land with irrigated wheat cultivation in the 2022/23 production season. It was planned to produce 53 million quintals. At the end of the year, 47 million quintals was produced.
The State Minister said that although the country has a comfortable ecosystem, land and hardworking farmers, it used to earn a lot of foreign currency by importing wheat. Due to hard work done for the past three years to achieve this plan, it could be possible to completely avoid imported wheat in 2023. In this way, it was possible to save nearly one billion Dollars which was used for buying wheat as a country and use this huge amount for other services and development.
According to Dr. Meles, the success of wheat cultivation is not only due to irrigation; it is also done during other farming seasons. In the 2022/23 crop season, 4.47 million hectares of land was covered by wheat in the spring and autumn. As a result, almost 154 million quintals of wheat was produced in all the three seasons. In the fall of 2023/24, to further increase the results obtained, extensive work is being done in irrigated wheat cultivation.
It is planned to cultivate wheat alone on 3.6 million hectares of land in the main harvest season. According to the report so far, more than 2.9 million hectares of land has been covered with seeds. There are opportunities to achieve more in the coming days. This will allow the country to achieve more success in wheat production than planned.
According to Shawaferahu Shitahun, a political economy analyst, wheat cultivation is possible to achieve better production in terms of the landscape and manpower of the country. The country has a lot of potential to cover its wheat consumption with own production. Reinforcing the idea of Dr. Meles, he said that the proof of this is how much it has been able to produce in the work it has done during these three years.
Ethiopia feeds not only its citizens but also its neighbors. Dr. Meles said that Djibouti, Somaliland, Kenya, Sudan and Eritrea take many products from Ethiopia. The countries get products from Ethiopia not only legally but mostly illegally. Apart from canceling the results of the development, this act makes a proper marketing system disappear.
On the other hand, the country uses low technology. Shewaferahu said that since the country has farmers who are still dependent on the rains, the production and productivity could not grow at the required rate and speed. Therefore, it is not possible to ensure the country’s food security by producing surplus produce beyond self-consumption and bringing it to the market.
As he says, at present, whether it is in summer or autumn or under irrigation, the crop is growing. However, each production process needs to be tested. What has been achieved in terms of what is needed? How much can the country produce and export beyond covering its own consumption? How much did the farmers accept the idea? Such issues must be answered. In any case, the farmers’ effort should be seen.
Ethiopia is known for its wheat production among sub-Saharan African countries. It demands more than 107 million quintals of wheat annually. To meet this demand, it spent between 700 million and one billion Dollars for importation. And to solve this, it is focusing on wheat cultivation. This way, it is believed that apart from fulfilling the wheat needs of the citizens, it will supply the leftovers from its own consumption to the foreign market and avoid buying from abroad.
As the data indicate, in Ethiopia’s national wheat cultivation, 117 thousand hectares were covered by irrigated wheat cultivation only in 2020. This figure increased to 672 thousand hectares in 2021 and 1.3 million hectares in 2022. As a result, the production is increasing every year. For example, in the 2022/23 production season, 4.47 million hectares of land was covered with wheat through irrigation, during the spring and autumn farming seasons, nearly 154 million quintals was obtained.
The wheat production sector is showing great progress and productivity is increasing. In order to continue this production, the problems in the sector must be solved. The State Minister stated that various works are being done by the government to solve the problem. For this, he noted the activities carried out through extension support, strengthening and expanding the irrigation development, modern equipment-assisted farming system and providing other inputs.
In order to ensure the continuity and sustainability of the development activities in summer and winter, provision of best seeds, fertilizers and pesticides to the farmers with reasonable prices is considered as another support and solution direction to tackle the existing increase in the prices.
According to Showaferahu, the first solution to make the development sustainable is to create peace and stability in the country. Above all, the issue of peace needs to be valued so that the farmer can work as he pleases and get resources. The government should work hard to create peace.
Wheat cultivation work should not be done as a campaign and should not be used for political purposes. Instead of that, the farmers should be encouraged to do the work and be convinced to take action. If they believe in it, they will be certainly effective and beneficial. They work hard day in and day out for their own profit, the economist said.
He further said that the farmers should have reliable farmland, the best seeds, and a healthy supply chain. It must also be believed that sometimes the product may go through informal commerce and disputes may arise. Thus, the government is required to strictly control the country’s exit borders, starting from the brokers. He said that if the farmers are profitable and realize the results, both the country and the consumer society will be successful in all fields.
Dr. Meles mentioned that the countries that produce wheat extensively (Ukraine and Russia) are in trouble and the world is facing a shortage of wheat production. Ethiopia was able to overcome this international problem because of the work being done on wheat and the results obtained. It should be known that the issue of cultivating wheat is not a matter of political consumption but a matter of living or not.
BY BACHA ZEWDIE
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 22 SEPTEMBER 2023
