Agribusiness investors’ commitment reaps benefit in the cultivation of fruits, vegetables and cereals at River Bilate’s banks, as investments continue to flow in the area.
Mechanized farming has now taken full shape in the area of the seasonal river that divides Sidama and SNNP region.
This has lured prominent tycoons such as Belayneh Kinde, who is not new to farming, to invest in the area and has now joined the scheme by taking 550 hectares of land on the eastern bank of the Bilate River.
According to Anteneh Abebe, Agriculture Division Head at Belayneh Kinde Group, the company took over the land about four months back and several activities have been done to nurture the land.

In the past few months, the company prepared the land for cultivation and currently about 400 hectare of land is covered by wheat as part of a dry farming initiative.
The rest of the land is also planted with avocados, which is an emerging and lucrative fruit type in the sector.
Of all the successes registered over the few months, the company cites the construction of a 4km coffer dam at its summit of achievements.
“Cultivation in the area had long been difficult because of the overflow of the Bilate river, that flows for almost eight months in a year,” Getinet Alemu, Manager of the farm explains, adding, “In the rainy season, the river over flows to the main land which for long had been a nightmare for farmers in terms of cultivation in the past. The dam now serves as a sustainable solution both in terms of agri-production and daily business lives for the locals.”
He further elaborated that gradually the wheat farm will be replaced by different fruits trees that are now under preparation.
Similarly, in this short period of time, the farm has also constructed a 20km all season gravel road that will allow the investor to keep its operation swiftly.
On the western bank of the Bilate River in Wolayta zone, SNNP region, which is adjacent to Belayneh’s farm, magnificent agricultural activities have been accordingly been underway for the past one and half years.
On the other side, the investment activity owned by Dagne Dhaba has developed different fruits including lemon that covers 50 hectares, orange 100 hectares, avocado and papaya that cover each 300 hectares as well as banana at 350 hectares.
Currently the farm, Dagne Dhaba Agricultural Products Exporter, is supplying up to seven trucks each of banana and papaya on a daily basis to the market.
And as farm manager Bayissa Baha explains, the farm is preparing to supply avocado for market.

“For the last about ten months, we have been supplying banana and papaya to the market on a daily basis and this will cut across our other fruits as well,” he added
According to Bayissa, the lemon and orange production is expected to be available to the market very soon. Besides the local market, the farms is also supplying the agricultural products to neighboring countries and in the near futures products like avocado will be exported to the European and Middle East market.
The marvelous achievements registered at the farm in under two years are attributed to the full engagement and commitment of the investors who spend a majority of their time at the farm.
“We have constructed an electric transmission line by ourselves that also benefits 250 households that reside here, and a 25km road which eases accessibility. Waters systems such as eight well drilling spots which cost us hundreds of millions of birr have been invested for sustainable production,” he added.
The farm also serves as an input supplier to the region. In the past harvest season, wheat seeds, improved red kidney bean seeds and maize have been distributed to farmers in the region that are sourced from the Dagne Dhaba farm.
For this coming season, the farm is also cultivating sunflower and maize seeds that will be supplied to farmers.
Apart from the two farms that have registered great success in a short time span, is pioneer of the area Bereket Worku, who received 600 hectare of land at Bilate on the right side of the prominent military camp in Wolayta Zone of SNNP.
According to Mesfin Seyoum, Farm Manager at Bereket Worku Farm, they received the farm about two and half years ago, but activities remain very limited.
For instance, in the past over two years, the farm cultivated a very limited land from the total it received. The manager said that currently, the farm supplies about 50 trucks of tomato and pepper to the market.

Despite cultivating few hectares of land with banana, papaya, cassava and avocado the farm has never delivered any of these fruits to the market.
“Engaging on the investment is a vital decision but taking prudent follow up and utilizing the land resource is key to the success of agri-businesses in the area,” an expert who knows the Bereket Worku’s farm remarked.
The farm seems to have fallen behind to new comers who have hit the ground running.
Mesfin to this end admitted that his farm is still on its trial test period, and opined that in the near future the developments will take shape.
“So far we can say we are on a trial period but we may grow up in the future,” he said.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is launching “Focus Africa” to strengthen aviation’s contribution to Africa’s economic and social development and improve connectivity, safety and reliability for passengers and shippers. This initiative will align private and public stakeholders to deliver measurable progress in six areas.
“Africa accounts for 18% of the global population, but just 2.1% of air transport activities (combined cargo and passenger). Closing that gap, so that Africa can benefit from the connectivity, jobs and growth that aviation enables, is what Focus Africa is all about,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
Infrastructure constraints, high costs, lack of connectivity, regulatory impediments, slow adoption of global standards and skills shortages affect the customer experience and are all contributory factors to African airlines’ viability and sustainability. The continent’s carriers suffered cumulative losses of $3.5 billion for 2020-2022. Moreover, IATA estimates further losses of $213 million in 2023.
Delivering on Africa’s Opportunities
Sustainably connecting the African continent internally and to global markets with air transport is critical for bringing people together and creating economic and social development opportunities. It will also support the realization of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) for Africa of lifting 50 million people out of poverty by 2030. In particular, trade and tourism rely on aviation and have immense unrealized potential to create jobs, alleviate poverty, and generate prosperity across the continent.
Africa has a solid foundation to support the case for improving aviation’s contribution to its development. Pre-COVID aviation supported 7.7 million jobs and $63 billion in economic activity in Africa. Projections are for demand to triple over the next two decades.
“Africa stands out as the region with the greatest potential and opportunity for aviation. The Focus Africa initiative renews IATA’s commitment to supporting aviation on the continent. As the incoming Chair of the IATA Board of Governors, and the first from Africa since 1993, I look forward to ensuring that this initiative gets off to a great start and delivers benefits that are measurable,” said Yvonne Makolo, CEO of RwandAir and first female Chair of the IATA Board of Governors (2023-2024).
Six Critical Areas
“The limiting factors on Africa’s aviation sector are fixable. The potential for growth is clear. And the economic boost that a more successful African aviation sector will deliver has been witnessed in many economies already. With Focus Africa, stakeholders are uniting to deliver on six critical focus areas that will make a positive difference. We’ll measure success and will need to hold each other accountable for the results,” said Walsh.
The Power of Partnerships
“Partnerships will differentiate the outcome of Focus Africa from previous efforts to stimulate Africa’s development with air transport. By partnering, stakeholders will effectively pool their resources, research, expertise, time and funding to support the common goals of the six work areas,” said Kamil Al Awadhi, IATA Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East.
The partners will be announced and join forces in Addis Ababa on 20-21 June to officially launch the Focus Africa initiative with more details for each task area.
The Timing is Right
Africa continues the path to recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. Air cargo is 31.4% over 2019 levels and air travel is 93% of 2019 levels. Full recovery for air travel is expected in 2024.
“The tasks for Focus Africa are not new. Work is already underway as part of the work of IATA and other stakeholders in Africa. But after the financial trauma that the pandemic brought to African aviation, we are at a unique time of rebuilding. By launching Focus Africa now, we can ensure that the recovery from COVID-19 moves aviation to an even better place than we were in 2019,” said Al Awadhi.

The first private payment system operator, Arifpay financial technologies, announces its integration with the national switch operator, EthSwitch.
As indicated on a joint press conference held on Wednesday April 5, 2023, the integration between Arifpay and EthSwitch is set to bring numerous benefits to customers, merchants, and banks, such as increased financial inclusion, improved payment efficiency, enhanced interconnectivity, support for small businesses, and increased job opportunities and will further help to support economic growth by enabling businesses to process transactions more quickly and cost-effectively.
“EthSwitch is proud to be at the forefront of initiatives that promote interoperability, financial inclusion and digital payments in Ethiopia, and we are excited to support the integration of Arifpay with EthSwitch. We are committed to promoting financial inclusion and supporting the Ethiopian economy through the integration of Arifpay with EthSwitch,” said Yilebes Addis, CEO of EthSwitch.
Bernard Laurendeau, CEO of Arifpay stated that, “With the introduction of interoperable ArifPOS Smart devices, consumers will have more options for everyday payments, and will no longer be limited to using their debit cards only at ATMs.”
The CEOs’ remarks reflect the significance of the integration between ArifPay and EthSwitch in promoting financial inclusion and driving the growth of the Ethiopian economy.
Arifpay is said to be the first Point Of Sale (POS) payment system operator with payment solutions for smartphone, POS and quick response. Recently, Arifpay officially started its POS operation and payment gateway after the approval of a commercial license by the National Bank of Ethiopia.

The Multipurpose Port of Doraleh (DMP) received a ship, from the MOL line, MV Aquarius ACE which unloaded 277 vehicles for transshipments bound for Europe.
DMP has truly become a vehicle transshipment hub. By definition, transshipments is the action of shipping goods or containers to an intermediate destination and then to another destination.
The transshipments activity is on the right track, during the past year, the volumes and performance have increased and as proof, just with the MOL line it closed the year with a significant increase of 90% in traffic compared to the fiscal year 2022. The port has played its role of bursting traffic to the ports of the region, namely Jeddah, Mombassa, Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and Sokhna.
In 2023, the policy of the general management is to set the bar even higher by positioning itself as an International Transshipment Port with the largest volume from Chennai bound for Europe, more precisely at the Port of Antwerp in Belgium.
The first international transshipments vehicles were unloaded on March 23 by the vessel MV Aquarius ACE.
DMP was able to invest in this activity due to its following attribute; A high level of qualification of its workforce, good dock management, availability of vehicle storage spaces, and low incident rate. All of these elements form the core of its service offering.
“With these new flows, there are also import and export prospects for local, regional and international markets that are emerging”, welcomes the management of DMP, which notes however that the transshipment of vehicles is becoming a regular activity. In this perspective, the Director General considers “Maintaining the quality of service is an essential element in the pursuit of our success”.
“Our country is determined to become an international logistics platform and a multimodal center for economic and commercial exchanges.”
DMP has succeeded in strengthening its position as a high-level port, industrial and logistics platform.