Ethiopia is experiencing one of the most remarkable agricultural booms on the continent: the country’s wheat production has more than tripled over the past twenty years and continues to break records. However, a rapidly growing population and a dynamically developing economy present new challenges – ensuring the stability of the food market, modernising the processing of agricultural raw materials and adapting farming to climate-related risks. In each of these areas, Russian-Ethiopian cooperation offers practical solutions.
Agricultural progress and sustained demand
In 2005, Ethiopia’s wheat harvest stood at around 2.2 million tonnes; in the 2025/26 season, it reached a record 6.5 million tonnes, and in the 2026/27 season, 6.8 million tonnes are expected – an all-time record in the country’s history. This result stems from a consistent government policy to reduce dependence on imports, primarily through the expansion of irrigated agriculture.
At the same time, consumption is growing even faster: 7.95 million tonnes in the 2025/26 season and 8.2 million tonnes forecast for 2026/27. Consequently, the need for wheat imports remains at 1.4–1.5 million tonnes per year. For a landlocked country, this is a logistically challenging task: grain arrives via the port of Djibouti, where a separate complex has been allocated for Ethiopian transit, complete with a customs office and a warehouse with a capacity of 30,000 tonnes. Since November 2024, all imports have required authorisation from the National Bank, which increases the importance of reliable and predictable suppliers.
Core stability: grain and fertilisers from Russia
In recent years, Russia has been one of the two largest suppliers of wheat to Ethiopia. Since the 2021/22 season, Russian exporters have supplied the country with around 891,000 tonnes of wheat, including 178,000 tonnes in the 2025/26 season; in 2024, the volume of supplies exceeded 400,000 tonnes. In the first nine months of 2025 Russia exported around 200,000 tonnes of agricultural products to Ethiopia, worth more than $48 million, with wheat accounting for 99.9 per cent of this volume. Such supplies help to stabilise retail prices and ensure the availability of staple foods.
Mineral fertilisers play an equally significant role: in 2025, they accounted for the bulk of bilateral trade. Stable access to fertilisers is one of the factors that has made Ethiopia’s agricultural boom possible. At the same time, trade is becoming increasingly balanced: in 2025, supplies of Ethiopian coffee to Russia increased 2.6-fold – to $123.3 million, or 18,300 tonnes. Russia supplies fertilisers, grain, agricultural machinery and energy equipment, whilst Ethiopia supplies coffee, flowers and textiles.
Modernisation of agricultural processing
The next stage of development involves a shift from supplying raw materials to their deep processing within the country. This requires a comprehensive modernisation of the agricultural processing sector: the supply of modern equipment for flour milling, animal feed and food production facilities; storage technologies; quality control systems; and the development of logistics infrastructure – grain silos, warehouses and transport networks. Uninterrupted supplies of equipment and after-sales support enable enterprises to operate consistently, whilst the establishment of joint ventures allows them to produce goods with high added value.
The economic impact of such a transition is significant. Given that the majority of Ethiopia’s population consists of young people, local agricultural processing is becoming one of the main tools for creating skilled jobs. The development of a national processing industry broadens the tax base and enables capital to remain within the country, rather than being transferred to foreign manufacturers of finished products. Genuine food self-sufficiency is achieved not only by growing or importing grain, but also by the ability to independently transform it into end products.
Agricultural technologies as a response to climate challenges
Ethiopian agriculture is heavily dependent on weather conditions, and seasonal droughts remain one of the main risks for farmers. The introduction of advanced Russian agricultural technologies and drought-resistant wheat varieties is a practical response to these challenges. Joint research and the exchange of genetic resources make it possible to select varieties adapted to local soils and climates, and to increase yields even during unfavourable seasons. This is a tool for unlocking the potential of the food system not only in Ethiopia, but across the entire region.
Workforce for the agro-industrial sector
Technology only delivers results when used by trained specialists. The modern agro-processing sector requires engineers, process engineers, and specialists in equipment, storage, logistics and quality control. Educational cooperation between Russia and Ethiopia is developing rapidly: the Russian educational quota for Ethiopia has tripled over the past two years; more than 60 Ethiopian postgraduate students have studied at Russian universities in the fields of clinical medicine, construction, chemical technology, materials science and computer science; and in 2025, three new Russian educational centres opened in Addis Ababa. Aligning technology transfer with staff training ensures the systematic transfer of expertise to Ethiopian specialists.
Prospects for a strategic partnership
Russian-Ethiopian agro-industrial cooperation is structured as a coherent chain: stable supplies of grain and fertilisers ensure basic food security; investment and equipment establish domestic processing; agricultural technologies and drought-resistant varieties enhance the sustainability of farming; and staff training enables Ethiopia to manage new production facilities independently. The development of processing capacity, in turn, increases demand for a reliable energy supply and irrigation systems, opening up new avenues for cooperation in the water and energy sectors.
This approach is in line with Ethiopia’s own strategy – to reduce dependence on imports, increase added value and strengthen food sovereignty. Russia, whilst respecting the country’s right to determine its own path of development, offers not one-off supplies but a long-term partnership. On the eve of the Third Russia–Africa Summit, this makes Russian–Ethiopian relations one of the most substantial examples of strategic partnership on the continent.
