Ministry Trains More Than 5 Million Farmers to Enhance Productivity

Addis Ababa June 8/2019 Training has been given for about 5.2 million farmers in a bid to enhance agricultural productivity this rainy season, Agriculture State Minister Sani Redi told ENA.
Of the 5.2 million farmers trained, 1.5 million of them are female farmers. The training has been also given to agricultural experts and administrators at all levels, he added.

“The training is completed in Oromia, Amhara and Tigray regional states, while it is continuing in Southern Nations Nationalities and People’s Regional (SNNPR) state. The rains  begin early in Tigaray and then expand to Amhara, Oromia and SNNPR regional states.”  

According to Sani, the plan is to harvest 406 million quintals of crop from a total 13.5 million hectares of cultivated lands in the season. Of this, 7.9 million hectares of land are ploughed and 1.4 million hectares covered with seeds.

Preparations are made to also provide agricultural inputs like fertilizer, seed and chemicals, he stated.

Sani said, some 15 million quintals of fertilizer is needed in the season, out of which over 11 million quintals has been distributed to woredas and farmers association.

He further explained that the remaining 3 million quintal fertilizers will enter the country by the middle of June, 2019.

Regarding seeds, a total of 1.4 million quintals selected seed will be distributed this season. Some 360,000 quintals have already been distributed.

Sani  stated that the ministry is working to solve the existing bottlenecks of the sector like insufficient agricultural inputs, limited agro-mechanization service, foreign currency and logistic problem with stakeholders.

The state minister revealed that the ministry is working to maximize crop products in this rainy season, mainly focusing on food, export and industry crops that include wheat, barley, maize, sorghum, tefff, coffee and sesame.