Nation Developing Roadmap to Transform Ethiopia’s Food Systems

Addis Ababa, March 31/2021(ENA) Ethiopia has been developing a roadmap with a view to transforming the country’s food systems by increasing production and productivity, Agriculture Minister Oumer Hussein said.

A two-day workshop entitled “Current and Future Prospects of Ethiopian Food Systems” aimed at developing Ethiopian Food System  Roadmap opened today.

Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Health have been jointly preparing a roadmap, it was learned.

Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Agriculture Minister Oumer Hussein said the productivity level of agriculture is still very low and diversification has remained limited despite the progress made in increasing cereal production.

According to him, Ethiopia has a rich policy environment and program relevant to food system transformation; and the food system  roadmap under preparation would help to improve the national food systems.

The food systems roadmap will also create a new platform by leveraging aligned partnerships across all food systems actors, he stated.   

Accordingly, the ministry is undertaking agricultural and rural development policy revisions as well as coordinating structural reforms to tackle the food and nutritional bottlenecks in the country, the minister elaborated.

Oumer pointed out that the government is working hard on access to appropriate inputs including seeds, fertilizers, agro-chemicals, technologies, among others, to tackle  the challenges across the entire food chains from production to consumption.

Health Minister, Dr. Lia Tadesse said on her part the roadmap will serve as an entry point for food systems transformation and sustainable healthier diets in Ethiopia in the coming years.

Demographic and Health Surveys show that some progress has been made to reduce under-nutrition. However, Lia notes that Ethiopia’s burden of under nutrition and micronutrient deficiencies are still among the highest in the Sub-Saharan Africa.

In addition, Ethiopia faces increasing overweight, obesity and diet related non-communicable diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases as emerging challenges, particularly among the urban population, she revealed.

In this regard, the roadmap is one of the critical instruments and needed for intervention to accelerate food system transformation in Ethiopia.

The workshop is organized to get inputs for the roadmap.