Ethiopia moves from a wheat deficit to surplus production increase to 300pct: PM Abiy

Addis Ababa, January 28, 2024 (FBC) – Addressing the award ceremony where he received FAO’s Prestigious Agricola Medal, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed expressed his gratitude to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization for recognizing Ethiopia’s diligent efforts over the past five years in addressing food and nutrition security.

The Prime Minister emphasized Ethiopia’s commitment to not only meeting zero hunger goals, but to achieving food sovereignty and attaining national prosperity.

“Ethiopia is a nation of plenty. It has abundant natural resources, most favorable weather, and an energetic youth population. Synergy among these factors is essential in accelerating the development of this historic nation,” the Premier pointed out.

“The endeavors we have begun in the past five years are just solid foundations for the next generation. Five years ago, we introduced an essential policy turning point that generated the national homegrown economic reform agenda through which agriculture, manufacturing industries, tourism, mining, and ICTs were identified as key economic pillars and engines of growth,” the Prime Minister elaborated.

“While all of these five pillars hold immense untapped potential, agriculture productivity is critical to our population of more than 120 million and remains the driving force of our economy,” he remarked.

The transformation of the sector has seen our total farm area increase by over 50 percent with vast amounts of land for crop production still available for cultivation, he indicated.

“As we continue expanding our potential in this sector, our focuses on high value in the industrial crops is yielding promising results as we have been planting drought tolerant water-efficient crops such as wheat, teff, maize, and sorghum,” he said.

“Wheat in particular of seasonal irrigation has been a major focus. As for many decades, we were dependent on imports. With innovations in our planting practices and the use of technology, we have moved from a wheat deficit to a surplus production increase of 300%,” the Prime Minister explained.

“Freeing ourselves from the grips of poverty means we must catalyze our human resources to our enhanced productivity. Nurturing a productive workforce and population requires us to make critical investments in nutrition,” he said.

Ethiopia has been taking targeted measures in not only expanding farmland but also increasing dairy, meats, poultry, fish and honey productivity, the Premier explained.

Since 2018 Ethiopia has undertaken several investment climate reforms in various areas including sector liberalization, laws and regulations with efforts to make Ethiopia conducive and receptive to partnership and investments, according to the Prime Minister.

“In the context of challenging circumstances and a dynamic environment, Ethiopia continues to be a resilient nation, remaining steadfast in our development goals and in attracting investments,” the Premier noted.

He invited potential investors to take a rewarding leap of faith and invest in Ethiopia.

The Premier further thanked Ethiopia’s development partners you for their continued cooperation and encourage them to support through innovations and future technologies that will enable the nation to meet the global growing demand for food.