Ethiopia rolls out Digital Agriculture Roadmap to advance the sector
Addis Ababa, February 4, 2025 (FMC) – Ethiopia has unveiled its Digital Agriculture Roadmap this morning to modernize the agricultural sector, increase production and productivity in the country.
The roadmap was developed by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) in collaboration with the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) and the Gates Foundation. It is expected to be implemented from 2025 to 2032.
The road map was unveiled in the presence of Minister of Agriculture Girma Amente (PhD), Minister of Innovation and Technology Belete Molla (PhD), Director General of the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute Mandefro Nigusse (PhD), and other senior government officials.
The initiative builds on the success of the Digital Agriculture Extension and Advisory Roadmap introduced in 2022. It aims to create a comprehensive, sustainable and prosperous ecosystem for farmers and pastoralists.
In his remarks, Minister of Agriculture Girma Amente highlighted digitalization as one of the key areas of focus for modernizing the agricultural sector. He said the Digital Agriculture Roadmap will help modernize the sector and make it market-oriented.
According to him, the roadmap is pivotal in making agricultural extension services accessible to farmers and pastoralists through smartphones.
He said that it will play a major role in capturing and updating agricultural information in one database, making agricultural inputs accessible, and providing financial services including loans and insurance.
It will also help increase production and productivity by enhancing the coordination of stakeholders along the value chain from production to market.
Minister of Innovation and Technology Belete Molla for his part indicated that digital agriculture is one of the sectors in which the government is working to realize Digital Ethiopia.
He said that digital agriculture helps increase production and productivity by making quick decisions based on accurate data analysis.