Farming Activities Disrupted in Areas Invaded by TPLF

Addis  Ababa August 22/2021 (ENA) Farming activities have been disrupted in areas where the terrorist TPLF has carried out invasion, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
State Minister of Agriculture, Girmame Garuma told ENA that out of the 70 woredas of Tigray region, about 50 had finalized preparations to commence farming activities before the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) left the region as part of the unilateral humanitarian ceasefire.

He added that more than 400,000 quintal of fertilizers and more than 39,000 quintals of improved seeds had also been supplied to the region before the withdrawal of ENDF.

However, according to him, the ministry is not aware of the current situation as it is unable to communicate with the region due to the continued destructive acts of the terrorist group.

Indicating that the terrorist group has also been carrying out attacks on neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar by violating the unilateral ceasefire declared by the government, he said farmers in areas invaded by the group are unable to carry out their farming activities.

The state Minister further pointed out that farmers in areas invaded by the terrorist group have been forced to evacuate from their areas without farming their lands.

“The terrorist group has been affecting the situation in neighboring regions. We are able to cover only half of lands by seeds from our plan in North Wollo and Wagg Himra areas of Amhara regions. Though vast lands were covered by seeds in South, North and West Gonder, there are also several areas where farm lands are not covered by seed”, he said.

He also said that the government is working to harvest surplus products in areas that are free from the conflict in order to curb the shortages that the nation might encounter due to terrorist TPLF’s provocative acts.

According to the State Minister, preparations are also underway to engage the farmers in producing fast growing crops and intensify irrigation schemes to alleviate shortage of production.

The nation has planned to harvest about 374.5 million quintal of production by covering about 13.2 million hectare of lands in the current farming season.

So far, about 12.5 million hectare of land has been prepared and 11 million hectares of lands are covered with seeds.