Ethiopia is one of the growing economies across the globe. The nation is the second populous country in Africa next to Nigeria with more than 126 million. According to the recent World Bank report, 85% of the population engaged in farming as the nation’s main stay of the economy is agriculture. The country is one of the least urbanized countries in the world with only 19% of the population is urbanized. The agriculture sector is predominantly rain fed and utilizing less modern inputs which results in less output.
The country is endowed with abundant natural resources including arable land, surface and underground waters, minerals and others but due to the absence of sufficient finance, technology, and human resource; it is not exploited as per the nation’s demand. The successive governments in the last three decades tried their level best to enhance the nation’s production and productivity to modernize the economy and to that end constructed infrastructure such as roads, rail ways, industrial parks, hydropower dams and wind farms. The allocation of capital budget utilized for accelerating development is increasing from time to time.
Side by side with these, in order to supply educated labor force to various sectors, they expanded educational institutions so that remarkable amount of well trained and skilled graduates have joined the labor market annually. The advent of information communication technology further contributes for the modernization of the economy. The digitization of financial transaction also helped to reduce transaction cost and enabled to create job opportunity to thousands.
Solomon Zegeye, an economist, working as a consultant for various local and international none governmental organizations said that to modernize the nation’s economy and attaining development, expanding industrialization is essential because it plays key role in creating employment opportunity to thousands, boosts export, serves to substitute import, creates self-sustaining private sector, links with agriculture and attracts foreign and local investments.
He further said that as the agriculture sector is rain fed and utilizes archive farming techniques, realizing food security is unrealistic in such a way. Therefore, changing the way of farming and increasing the usage of modern agricultural inputs which enhance production and productivity is essential. Ethiopia has vast arable land with immense water resources which can be utilized for irrigation farm but according to the recent report, out of the total arable land that can be used for irrigation, only 10% of it utilized.
In the last five years, the government has worked aggressively in expanding dry season irrigated wheat farming and tremendous results have been witnessed. Based on this outcome, experts predicted that if the trend is continues, Ethiopia can be exporter of wheat sooner than later on top of becoming self- sufficient.
However, he also said that currently, almost 50% of farmers have less than one hectare land and the population growth coerces the farmers to distribute their small plots to their offspring when they reach adult age which further fragments their plots and reduce their yield.
The land fragmentation also increases land degradation and soil erosion which again puts pressure on food supply chain and poses shortage of food in the market. As to Solomon, land fragmentation threatens the government’s aspiration of ensuring food security. In addition, it makes the farming practice unfriendly to the environment. Therefore, shifting the labor force stranded in the rural part to the non-farming one should be strategized.
He further said that, in a given manufacturing located in small plots of land can create job opportunity to thousands. But had the plot been utilized for farming only one farmer can use it to produce small amount of crops. This indicates that how small plots of land used for agriculture is non economical as compared to the land used for manufacturing.
Expanding manufacturing helps to transform the economy from low productivity to the higher one through utilizing technology and entrepreneurship skill. It changes the production system from seasonal in to the day to day and paves the way for innovation and research based production.
As to him, the construction sector which is part of the industry sector also plays pivotal role in constructing real estates, roads, and industries vital for the booming of the economy. Currently, the sector created job opportunities for hundreds of thousands. Besides, it creates linkage with the quarry, cement and other input producing sectors and plays key role in expanding urbanization. According to the Central Statistics Authority, urban centers contribute up to 50% to the Gross Domestic Production (GDP) from all economic sectors.
To advance industrialization, so far, the government has made partnership with stakeholders through multilateral and bilateral relations and more or less progress has been witnessed. Ethiopia’s relations with the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and China enabled the nation to secure money, knowledge and technology transfer.
According to the recent World Bank report, the agriculture sector contributes 32% to the GDP while the service sector contributes 40% and the industry 28%. The later sectors are expected to stimulate the economy through attracting foreign and local private investment. One can understand that even though the huge labor force is engaged in agriculture, its contribution to the GDP is declining which necessitates bringing structural change through shifting the stranded rural labor force in to none farming such as industry and services.
The government’s 10 years perspective economic growth plan aspires attaining structural change through expanding manufacturing sector, tourism, transportation, construction and Information Communication Technology. As mentioned above, Ethiopia still practices rain fed farming through traditional way and outdated techniques and in such a way, eradicating poverty and attaining prosperity is unrealistic. Hence, changing way of farming in to the modern one and utilizing more inputs is essential.
Cognizant of the vitality of technology and skilled labor force for attaining economic growth, Centre of Excellence is opened recently in Addis Ababa to promote sustainable industrialization, agricultural modernization and skills’ development across Africa.
Recently, Gerd Müller, UNIDO Director General, LuoZhaohui, Chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), and Melaku Alebel, Ethiopia’s Minister of Industry officially inaugurated the China-Africa-UNIDO Centre of Excellence located in Addis Ababa. The center is a pioneering tripartite initiative to promote sustainable industrialization, agricultural modernization, and skills development across Africa. The initiative is the first tripartite flagship program of its kind, between Ethiopia, CIDCA and the UN agency, according to UNIDO.
In his address, Director General Müller emphasized the significance of the center, stating, “The Centre of Excellence symbolizes a new era of cooperation and innovation, bringing cutting-edge low-carbon technologies and expertise to Africa.”
Chairman of CIDCA, LuoZhaohui on his part highlighted that the center is a key implementation of President Xi Jinping’s initiatives to support African development.
Melaku Alebel stressed Ethiopia’s commitment to sustainable development and appreciated the support and cooperation with China and UNIDO. The Joint Declaration for the Centre of Excellence Program that was signed on this occasion highlights the ambitions for a long-term development of the program.
The Centre aims to align with strategic frameworks such as the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and Ethiopia’s Ten-Year Development Plan, contributing to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
As part of the overall program, Director General Müller signed agreements with CIDCA for two major projects in Ethiopia which will support mechanized agriculture systems and upgrade the national livestock value chain, improving the agri-business sector and increasing market access in Ethiopia.
Müller also participated in the Second High-Level Conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development, hosted by CIDCA. In his key note speech, he emphasized the critical role of sustainable industrial development in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, stressing that sustainable industrialization is a key factor in ending hunger and poverty, providing clean energy for all, and ensuring environmental protection and climate change mitigation.
BY ABEBE WOLDEGIORGIS
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD TUESDAY 23 JULY 2024
