Gov’t to shells out 9.8 Bil Birr for Expansion of Irrigation Schemes : GCS

 December 20/2021/ENA/ The Government of Ethiopia has allocated 9.8 billion birr for the construction of 17 irrigation development projects , Government Communication Service said.

In her press briefing to journalist today, State Minister of  Government Communication Service, Selamawit Kassa said the government is tirelessly working to enhance agricultural production through irrigation particularly summer wheat production.   

She explained that Ethiopia has 5-10 million hectares of irritable land out of which only 1.2 million hectares has been developed.

Accordingly, the government of Ethiopia has given a great deal of attention to the development of irrigation in order to enhance the ongoing efforts aimed at ensuring the food sufficiency of the country and expand export items.  

In this regard, the Government has allocated 9.8 billion birr for the construction of 17 irrigation development projects in the current fiscal year, the state Minister pointed out.

Out of the total projects 12 are currently under construction in various parts of the country.

According to Selamawit, with regular irrigation, some 349,000 hectares of land has now been cultivated. Out of this 311,000 hectares of land has been covered with seeds.

“Efforts are underway to intensify summer wheat production. It is planned to develop a total of 400,000 hectares of land and produce 16 million quintal of produce. So far, more than 256,000 hectares of land has been cultivated, of which 156,000 hectares have been covered with seeds,” she stated.  

She also stated that the government is working hard taking into account the high contribution of agricultural sector in ensuring food security and the country's independence.

In addition, the green legacy initiative will also be strengthened in the coming years focusing on planting trees that would help the nation ensure food security.

She emphasized that agriculture sector needs to be strengthened in order to cope with the effects of the war.

Selamawit added that efforts are also underway to harvest crops in areas liberated from the terrorist TPLF group to withstand economic pressure on the country.