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The Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture has announced the publication of a plan to make the import of wheat a tradition within four years.
This was said at a panel organized Friday in Addis Ababa by the Ministry of Agriculture at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. The panel focused on the role of intellectuals in the transformation of Ethiopian agriculture. Currently, Ethiopia spends about $ 1 billion a year on imports of wheat and fertilizer. Ethiopian agriculture is still dominated by smallholder farmers engaged in activities fueled by raids, although the country has huge potential for irrigation and mechanized farming.
The ministry now aims to end the country's wheat imports by introducing mechanized agriculture and helping small-scale farmers become involved in irrigation. This year, smallholders have covered more than 1.1 million hectares of land under irrigation, according to the ministry.
Ministry officials said the shortage of inputs, including fertilizer, improved seeds and pesticides, was one of the challenges facing Ethiopian agriculture, in addition to retrograde farming techniques used by smallholders for centuries.
At the end of the harvest season, the country expects to harvest 374 million quintals of field crops, including wheat. Wheat represents the fourth largest share of total cereal production.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), arable land represents about 13.2 million hectares, or 12% of the total land area, spread over 1.1 million km² . The cultivated lands cover about 6 million hectares, 45% of the cultivable area and 5% of the total area. According to the FAO, small farmers occupy 96% of the cultivated land, the remaining 4% being cultivated by state farms and producer cooperatives.
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