Ethiopia: Integrated System to Increase Production and Productivity in Agricultural Sector

"Ethiopia is working hard to strengthen its agricultural production and productivity," said Ministry of Agriculture. Since the implementation of the country's rural agriculture-centric development policy and strategy, many changes have been taking place as most pastoralists and farmers have struggledto break out of poverty and struggle to ensure food self-sufficiency and sustainable food product supply.

This is due to the fact that the development strategies and programs, technology uses, and supply systems have been designed and are being worked on by all parties that are acting on the sector. Agricultural production and productivity have not reached the required level. This will help to accelerate the structural transformation of agriculture and increase the modern, productive, and productivity agricultural inputs and modern agricultural practices, as well as the use and supply of technology with its application systems, said Oumer Hussein, Minister of Agriculture (MoA).

Particularly, the current level of development, as farmers' use of technology and thirst for development is increasing, Ethiopia needs to develop and implement a system that fits and responds to this technology system.

To this end, the institution or MoA is working in collaboration with the concerned bodies and various sectors to provide the needed agricultural inputs and technology. In this regard, concerted efforts need to be made to increase the supply and use of modern farming equipment that accelerates agricultural mechanization, to supply the best seeds of pulses, oilseeds, and to use post-harvest handling technology systems at the country level, he added. The government of Ethiopia is showing interest and commitment in developing the sector by encouraging agricultural mechanization and tax exemptions for those who import equipment and technologies from abroad previously used and get fruit in system countries, he noted. He said: "The important thing is to take advantage of this opportunity and work together for the benefit of oneself, the farmers and the country."

Through the efforts to the implementation of Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) for the last consecutive years, Ethiopia has been showing the growth and productivity of major crops. In order to ensure the sustainability of this growth in production and productivity in the agricultural sector, the government and its local and international partners are working to provide training to the actors in the field of inputs and practices for the supply and use of inputs and technologies. "Efforts are also being made to make technology available as well as to provide awareness on the use of programs.

To this end, large-scale technological dissemination has been carried out alongside mitigating modern disasters," he noted. The number of farmers and pastoralists receiving agricultural extension services is also increasing in the whole country level. The country has reached a point where it is safe to say that most farmers and pastoralists have benefited from agricultural extension services brought to the country.

Due to the intensification of the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) efforts over the past few years, productivity of major crops has been increasing at the national level. According to the previous year's plan implementation report, 17.58 quintals of Teff, 40.12 quintals of maize, 27.86 quintals of wheat, 21.73 quintals of barley and 27.72 quintals of sorghum have been produced at the national level in the 2018/2019 cropping season.

It was possible to produce 314,654,447 quintals by cultivating 12.76 million hectares of land from the country in strengthening collaborative works of the whole stockholders by taking the lion share for the government, he informed. By strengthening this experience and expanding the use and use of various technologies, efforts are being made to increase production and productivity by covering market-leading crops (Kuta Getem in local language saying) farming, covering 13.2million hectares of land in the 2019/20 cropping season and producing 335.1million quintals, according to the Central Statistics Agency.

In terms of performance for the 2019/20 cropping season, it is 87.7 percent of the plan, but it shows that the production and productivity are increasing year to year. This shows that as a country increases the supply and use of technology, the number and volume of production and productivity is increasing in the country, he noted. The Ministry is working hand in hand with partners to provide 12.6 million hectares of land in the next2020/2021 crop year to reach 356.98 million quintals of major crop production level.

In struggling to produce356.98 million quintals of major crop production, Ethiopia has faced a number of reasons why the country needs to work harder than ever to increase agricultural production in size and quality. This is due to the limited economic and social activities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the country's certain area spread of desert locusts (harmful desert insects). Consequently, in order to increase production and productivity in the current production season, preparations have been made to increase productivity by training farmers, and pastoralists in facilitating the supply of agricultural inputs at the right time, Oumer noted.

However, the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the frequent occurrence of desert locusts' are expected to hinder the development of the sector as planned. Then, working together and avoiding physical contact and staying away from physical contact is one of the ways to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, which is expected to have a negative impact on the productivity of the 2020/2021 crop year.

Meanwhile, to alleviate and prevent this threat, the 69,000 development station workers across the country are working in collaboration with the health extension workers to create and raise awareness among the farmers about the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and its precautionary measures. In addition to this, it is the call of the country to act responsibly in the past and a lot of work is being done to prevent the locusts in the country.

Although the occurrence of locust swarms will inevitably affect the growth of the country's production, it has been possible to reduce the extent of the damage by reducing the amount of damage and manpower wasted by chemical spraying with 6 aircraft before it causes further damage. He said that the Ministry is working harder than ever to take advantage of the opportunities available to Agricultural producers in order to avoid the negative impact of these and similar threats to the country's agricultural production and productivity in the 2020/2021 crop year and to develop a strategic plan.

Oumer emphasized that we need to work together to save ourselves from food imports. "Therefore, the Ethiopian agricultural sector, and other stakeholders, who are directly involved in the agricultural sector, and other stakeholders, must work together to meet the challenges posed by helping farmers and pastoralists carry out their agricultural activities safely and productively."

Source: Ethiopian Herald