Making the agriculture sector modern and promoting production and productivity via employing a range of means these days particularly in developing countries like ours has been more than any time else the call of the day. That is why Ethiopia is working hard towards effectively utilizing agricultural mechanization.
It is also well ascertained that agricultural mechanization is the use of machinery, equipment, and implements—rather than human or animal power—to carry out agricultural practices. Undeniably, countries have to well reinvigorate the use of agricultural mechanization as it has been well attested that the viable means to ensure food security by highly minimizing post-harvest yield loss.
It is also well recognized that when the use of mechanization is sufficiently high, it can help countries improve the overall efficiency of food systems, reduce the costs of producing outputs and providing services, enhance economies of scale, and raise labor productivity and incomes.
Yes, increasing the power supply to agriculture means that more tasks can be completed at the right time and greater areas can be farmed to produce greater quantities of crops while conserving natural resources. As to Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture, importation of 3,385,137 agricultural machineries free of tax enjoying exemption grant over the past nine months is of paramount importance in bolstering the agriculture sector.
As to Agricultural Mechanization Executive with the Ministry, Eshetu Hundie, over the past nine months, some 2,532,454 post production and some 852,683 pre-production agricultural technologies and agricultural mechanization technologies were imported free of tax.
As to him, some 2,210,327 modern barns, some 3,675 tractors, 650,092 spraying machineries, 196,916 water pumps, 217,058 combiners are imported.
He said, “Importing agricultural mechanization equipment would be significantly useful in addressing challenges and creating new opportunities to assure the successful adoption of mechanization and reinvigorating agricultural production and productivity. It is also paramount importance in boosting farm productivity in the country through the sustainable use of machines and modern equipment. The imported machineries are at least expected to use for years.”
He further stated that while mechanized practices are traditionally thought of in terms of tilling, seed drilling, and spraying, in recent years mechanization has been considered to include broader applications along the food system, such as irrigation, post-harvest cleaning of harvests, cold storage, value addition, and processing. Agricultural mechanization is considered one of the critical tools to achieve Ethiopia’s broader agricultural development strategies, he added.
“Doubling agricultural productivity and eliminating poverty will be real using mechanization at the required level. Surprisingly, many farmers in Ethiopia prepare their lands using only hand tools, a practice that entails poor productivity, repels youth and is incompatible with the countries ending poverty goal. Hence, the use of these equipment is really untold,” he opined.
As to him, farmers should be able to use modern agricultural technology, both digital and mechanical, to boost the agricultural sector in a sustainable way, and the importance of collaborations would be made a culture. Farmers in Ethiopia should be emancipated from using ways resulting in low-yielding techniques and may prefer slash-and-burn methods.
Today, smaller and more affordable machinery, such as two-wheel tractors, are made available by importing free of tax, and they can allow farmers to use viable scale and greater utilization of machineries, he stated.
Notably, with the proliferation of mobile technologies and access to modern agricultural machineries, it is possible to boost production and productivity, he said.
The current state of agricultural mechanization in Ethiopia has a potential contribution to agricultural and broader economic transformation. A rapid increase in agricultural mechanization over the past years has been witnessed and efforts to promote mechanization are well bearing fruits.
Other potential roles include capacity building, removing tight policies, facilitating access to credit and formulating viable strategies have to be well strengthened to help farmers produce more, he underlined.
Despite a history of disappointment, agricultural mechanization may finally be in position to contribute to agricultural transformation in the nation. Demand for mechanization appears to have emerged in certain systems and, where it has, the private sector has often demonstrated its potential to efficiently supply machines and hiring services.
Ethiopia in particular and Africa in general have to end poverty through hard work and effectively utilize their agricultural potential. Poverty has to be made history instead of remaining common. Agriculture, which forms the core of rural livelihoods, has a major influence on livelihood and food security outcomes in Ethiopia in particular and in all developing nations in general.
As to Eshetu, putting the different sources of farm power, mechanization, machineries, equipments and tools in use in a much broader context of sustainable production intensification and agricultural transformation is essential. Intensification and transformation must be based on increased labor productivity along supply and output value chains, including on-farm labor productivity and employment generation which mechanization can make possible as increased volumes of output must be handled to meet future demands for food and other biological products from agriculture.
He said, “Mechanization is a multi-dimensional concept and widely used in agriculture. There is, however, a major difference between the application of mechanization in both developed and developing countries.”
True, agricultural mechanization today has a very broad meaning he said adding that this broad meaning includes production, distribution and utilization of a variety of tools, machinery and equipment for the development of agricultural land, planting, harvesting and primary processing.
Increasing productivity by updating executive operations in order to gain more power; increasing the level of cultivated land; moving toward industrialization and strengthening the market for rural economic growth and ultimately improving the livelihoods of farmers are the goals of mechanization agricultural system, he added.
According to Eshetu, mechanization technology changes with industrial growth in the country and economic and social progress of the farmers. While the loss of interest in agriculture by land owners and the lack of access to agricultural labor force for farm operations are among the most important social and economic issues in highly industrialized countries, increasing the area of cultivation and increasing labor productivity are the requirements of mechanization in the country where a number of agrarian society reside. Therefore, mechanization technology requires dynamic and regional conditions in Ethiopia need to be well replicated.
The undeniable fact these days is that the world is really facing numerous challenges to feed the growing population, reduces poverty, protect the environment and face climate change. These challenges can sustain hunger and malnutrition, reduce economic growth—lead to political instability and irreversible damage to the environment and human survival. As productivity growth is not enough in many developing countries to respond to rising demand, imported food in these countries are expected to increase dramatically. However, this is the right time to dramatically reduce such an imported intensity via well expanding utilization of mechanized agriculture.
Employing mechanized agriculture may also facilitate the adoption of other modern inputs and practices like irrigation, improvements in food system resilience, stability of food supplies, sustainable use of land and natural resources, and climate change adaptation as well as the supply of mechanized equipment, service providers. In addition, it promotes the expansion of high-quality mechanization service provision, as key instruments to improve access to mechanization technologies for the farming community.
Today, despite considerable investment in development, food insecurity is widespread throughout Africa, with reference to this great nation, Ethiopia. Besides, government’s mechanization promotion policies are relevant to address emerging challenges in relation to productivity, efficiency, and economics of scale and scope of agricultural mechanization as it can provide various benefits in appropriate contexts of sufficient demand and affordable costs of machines and hiring services, he added.
Similar support to facilitate collective action among various stakeholders along agricultural mechanization value chains by the federal as well as state administrators in the country could be effective. Social capital also plays an essential role in knowledge diffusion, and promoting such social capital among potential adopters of mechanization could be important in low-income countries like Ethiopia. The potential of agricultural mechanization would absolutely benefit the farmers who could systematically and collaboratively consider adopting the technology and mechanized agricultural system.
BY MENGESHA AMARE
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 6 JUNE 2024
