The world exhibition of agricultural machinery sweeps away all uncertainties linked to the health emergency and makes an impact with exceptional numbers. After five days, the exhibition was closed on October 23, with 270,700 visitors, 25,900 of whom from abroad, a result that makes EIMA a “top” international event not only in the specific sector of agricultural machinery, but also in the landscape of trade shows in absolute terms. Not only was the number of visitors remarkable, but also the quality of the public, largely made up of businesspeople interested in new products and the purchase of technologies suited to the most diverse agricultural settings. The cultural part of the exhibition was also very rich, with a total of 116 conferences and seminars on technical and political topics. “EIMA wanted to go ahead this year, despite the inevitable defection of exhibitors and visitors from some countries that are still in a health crisis,” comments Alessandro Malavolti, president of FederUnacoma, the association of Italian manufacturers that is organising the event, “and despite the scepticism of all those who were aiming to suspend it until November 2022. “The data have proved us right and the 2022 edition will not be for us the ‘restart’ edition but the ‘reconfirmation’ one, the consecration of an event that in the most difficult year has given an extraordinary proof of strength”.
“On the eve of EIMA we had already indicated as a good result the threshold of 160,000 visitors, that is, about 50% of those who had participated in the record edition of 2018 – added Simona Rapastella, general manager of FederUnacoma – while the final data indicate an attendance of 85% of the last edition before the pandemic, a result that seems ‘miraculous’, but which in reality is the result of a great deal of work by the structure, of our determination to highlight the value of EIMA on the international exhibition scene, and of the exhibiting companies that followed us”.
Gianpiero Calzolari, president of BolognaFiere, also commented on the success of the exhibition saying “we are particularly proud of the results of EIMA 2021 that bear witness to a widespread trend of economic recovery after the pandemic emergency. These are results that also underscore the importance of an extremely high-tech sector that is strategic for the objectives set by the green deal. Agriculture has a fundamental role to play in the ecological transition, and the operators in this sector are the main protagonists. Today, agricultural machinery is an essential tool for an increasingly important role in agriculture, as the event testified. A heartfelt congratulations to FederUnacoma for the organisational commitment that has led to this success”.
Agricultural mechanics and research
Since 1989, when it was set up on the initiative of FederUnacoma to support research and innovation in the field of agricultural mechanics, it has tackled and discussed 277 issues affecting the sector, from the need to support and enhance technology transfer to companies by research centres to sustainable development. Now the Meeting Club of Bologna is celebrating its 30th anniversary at EIMA, the international exhibition of agricultural and gardening machinery currently taking place in the halls of BolognaFiere. For two days, top experts in the sector from all over the world met to make a contribution to the growth of the agricultural machinery industry. “When we were born there were 51 of us, today there are 94”, explained the president of the non-profit association, Paolo Balsari, from the University of Turin, opening the meeting. Also in attendance, Alessandro Malavolti, president of FederUnacoma, which gathers agricultural machinery manufacturers in Italy. “The establishment of the association was one of our best investments in expanding the industry,” Malavolti said as he brought his greetings. Most of the members of the Club of Bologna Meeting (58%) are university professors from the best universities in the world and researchers. They were also joined by representatives of government agencies, as well as industry associations and federations involved in research and innovation and support for industrial growth. A total of 28 countries were represented.
The Meeting Club of Bologna was created with the aim of promoting discussion and exchange of experiences between scholars, companies and international organizations on the best practices worldwide. This year, three major themes were addressed during the celebrations: the sustainable growth of agricultural mechanization, the world market and new demand, and machines dedicated to specialized crops, such as viticulture.
EIMA, stronger than anything
Goh Betoch enters financial market in pomp
The first private mortgage bank, Goh Betoch Bank grasps authorities’ attention receiving applause for its initiative which is aligned with government policy as well as bridging the gap needed in the housing market.
The bank that opened its door as of Monday October 25 in the presence of Adanech Abiebie, Mayor of Addis Ababa City Administration, as the 21st financial firm stated that it will focus on providing service from branches that will be expanded in the capital and towns alike.
Adanech said that despite the financial sector’s growth in Ethiopia specialized banks like Goh are rare. She appreciated those who took the initiative to introduce such kind of a bank that is of course big news for dwellers in the city.
“We will tirelessly support the bank in order for it to grow and attain its goal,” the Mayor said.
“To narrow the growing demand, the city administration is taking different initiatives and strategies, while financing is a crucial bottleneck which ought to be solved. I am delighted to see such kind of a bank becoming operational which will play an instrumental role in the access to finance for the housing scheme,” the Mayor said whilst recalling the issues of housing problems within the capital.
Chaltu Sany, Urban and Infrastructure Minister, said that housing is a problem that has remained as a big homework for the government. She reminds that the key challenge for the sector development is lack of available developed land and finance. “That grabbed the government’s attention under the ten year plan and we will work in order to solve the situation and to attain tangible change in the sector,” she said.
Goh which is now the first and only private mortgage bank in Ethiopia and targeted to introduce different initiatives to achieve its plan to do business within the housing sector. It is expected to mobilize finance from different sources including overseas entities to boost the mortgage activity in the country mainly in urban areas.
Studies indicated that to ease the current accumulated housing demands, at least 1.2 million houses should be built as soon as possible, besides that every year 100,000 houses have to be constructed to cover fresh demands.
Seventy percent of the existing houses in cities around the country are below standard and actually need major renovation.
“Meanwhile this is the reality; the current financial firms are not providing the required fund for the housing and construction sector. Due to that we formed our bank to fill the gap,” Getahun Nana, Chairperson of Board of Directors of Goh and former Vice Governor of NBE said.
According to data from NBE the construction and housing sector has not benefited more than 10 percent of the total loans that banks provide.
Goh is also expected to provide other banking products and targets to provide one billion birr loan in the first year of operation and projects to provide 6.4 billion birr in its fifth year.
Goh plans to mobilize 1.3 billion birr deposit in its first year operation.
The bank includes 6,658 shareholders. Its subscribed capital is about 1.1 billion birr of which 521.5 million is paid up.
Sharing experience to advance education
Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA) shared Japan’s modern education system to Addis Ababa University (AAU) titled, “Education for Development in Ethiopia; experience from Japan” at the premises of AAU.
Emebet Mulugeta (PhD) Vice President of Academic Affairs at AAU and Japan’s Ambassador to Ethiopia Tekako Ito attended the conference.
In her opening remarks Emebet said Addis Ababa University will work with JICA for development indicating that the diplomatic ties between Ethiopia and Japan dates back to 1930, adding that the relationship between AAU and Japanese universities is strong.
Japan’s Ambassador to Ethiopia Tekako Ito on her part said Japan has been working to ensure the country’s educational development by providing educational opportunities to Ethiopian students since 1960. “Japan will continue to support Ethiopia to modernize its education system,” echoed the ambassador.
During the discussion, Japan’s education experience for development was presented. Participants discussed Japan’s modernization of its education system and its development strategies and used it as an input for Ethiopia’s education development.
Beyond solving hunger is the target of a diet that delivers brain development and immunity
Working in nutrition, it falls to me to explain, quite often, how unusually nutritious teff is as a staple food. Many of the world’s staple foods, from maize to rice, are filled with starch, which gives our body energy, but does not necessarily provide the protein, fibre, vitamins or minerals we need to be healthy.
By contrast, a single serving of dry teff, with its mildly nutty flavour and incredible versatility, delivers 7 grams of protein, 4 grams of dietary fibre, 25 percent of daily recommended magnesium, 20 percent of daily iron and 10 percent of daily calcium, Vitamin B6 and zinc.
It’s a nutrition cocktail that Ethiopia can be proud of as a starting point for its diet, which might even leave one wondering why the government has highlighted the fortification of foods with vitamins and minerals as an important game changer in the Food Security Plan it unveiled at the United Nations Food System Summit last month.
The answer lies in human potential. For we have come a long way indeed in reducing hunger. The level of level of hunger has been reduced by half and childhood malnutrition and stunting have also reduced dramatically. The government’s moves to enhance agriculture, provide vitamin supplements to children through health extension services, and drive our economy forwards to reduce poverty have all led to falling levels of malnutrition.
Yet it has become clear that there are actually two targets in nutrition to get to full health. The first is enough energy and access to starches to keep our weight up and energy going. The second is about what those of us in nutrition call micronutrients, which are all the elements of fish, dairy, vegetables and meat that see humans develop to their full potential.
However, a report last year from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) looked at the cost of staple foods that were full of starch and the cost of an entire diet with enough vitamins and minerals for health. It found that a fully nutritional diet costs five times as much as an inadequate diet dominated by starch.
But years of data that we have lodged with the FAO shows that the average Ethiopian diet gets 70 percent of its energy from starch. The same records show we are generally low in vital nutrients like Vitamin A and folic acid. This used to be the case, too, with iodine, until the government ruled that iodine must be added to our salt.
In fact, all of these nutrients are key to brain development, as well as in the strength of our immune system in countering disease. Yet, our FAO records show we get about half the folic acid we need, and without it there is a risk of unborn babies developing deformed brains and spines. Over half these babies are stillborn, and many more die at under 5 years of age.
We are also short of vitamin A, which fuels our immune system, which means that small infections can become very serious, causing the unnecessary deaths of several thousand children a year.
Recently, GAIN calculated the cost to the country caused from these deficiencies based on the number of people affected by severe health problems as a result, counting up the additional health care costs and lost productivity, and found in just this very partial analysis that the deficiencies were reducing GDP by more than $520m a year.
Addressing this challenge is something that is requiring multiple health and policy initiatives. For how do we get our population eating more leafy green vegetables, and more fish? But fortification is also a powerful tool in this set, offering a rapid remedy at low cost.
There are initial costs equipping producers to add vitamins to their foods, but, after that, reaching into the diets of most of our population with extra iodine, or vitamin A, or folic acid, just quietly ends most of these nutritional deficiencies, helping allowing every child to meet its full potential.
Thus, with the ambition to end stunting by 2030, as committed by nine ministries in the Seqota Declaration Program, the government has gone beyond the first base of starvation and included plans to give all access to a healthier and richer diet, reducing the seriousness of infections and fatigue, increasing our brain power and productivity and giving us all a better national future ahead.
Ton Haverkort is Country Director of Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) Ethiopia
