The highly anticipated but delayed contract farming proclamation has been tabled to the House of Peoples Representatives.
The proclamation that experts in the sector frequently suggested to be establish under a legal framework to boost the agricultural sector as well as for structural transformation has finally been tabled at the parliament on Tuesday for ratification.
Experts in the sector have suggested that the legally binding law shall allow farmers and buyers who get on the contract farming to benefit equally on mutual and trust basis rather than the current effort of using out growers without any formal procedure.
At its preamble, the draft proclamation stated that it is tabled on the aim to increase quality, productivity, competitiveness and improve the linkage between the agriculture-sector to agro processing that leads to economic transformation.
It added that farmers will focus on the market oriented products to create long term relation with value addition processers, agro processers and big buyers.
“The contract farming will support the establishment of higher production and productivity primarily based on knowledge, technology transfer, and market linkage on legal framework,” the preamble explained.
The explanation attached within the draft proclamation that is supported by the House of Federation states that the law will help to form legal binding and productivity elements.
It added that besides improving production and productivity and post-harvest wastage, farmers shall get strong and sustainable market linkage to buyers.
In addition to the benefit for the two parties it has also presented an opportunity to boost the sector development.
According to the explanation document attached within the draft proclamation, on the scheme, farmers shall get better technology, technical support, new market, and finance. It added that on the other side receivers shall get quality product as per their standard, on time and sustainably. “Due to these contributions, the agricultural sector shall embed structural change and poverty reduction shall be attained,” the explanation said.
It said that such kind of law shall frame the negotiation between buyers and producers and benefit, mainly the producer, who are mostly very small scale producers that are easily dominated by buyers.
“The agriculture sector is highly vulnerable to external factors like climate change, disease and others. In order to unburden this, the legally supported contract farming has also helped to de-escalate the disagreement between the two parties that shall be created because of the reason mentioned above,” it explained.
The proclamation shall also give an opportunity to establish a legal binding contract on the contractor farming scheme. It recalls that currently there are efforts to work together under contract farming but that is not supported by legally bandaged law.
Technology, technical support, finance as well as labour shall be provided on the scheme of contract farming under input arrangement.
In the past, rather than supporting small scale farmers under contract farming or out growers, the government had transferred their plots to investors and they settled in other places or facilitated compensation, which creates massive disagreement and dispute.
Under the draft proclamation, article two, there are two types of contract farming; the first is that investors provide input that includes technical, finance, and technology support for the surrounding small scale farmers as out grower scheme, and the second is that contract givers who received the agricultural products like industries, exporters, market centers, correction centers, and hotels get agreement with farmers and provide input support.
The scheme will allow the farmer to deliver the product in accordance to the agreed upon quality, quantity and time and the buyer in turn must commit to purchasing the cultivated product and has to provide farming inputs including seeds, fertilizer and technical support.
Agricultural produce means all produce, whether processed or not, of agriculture, apiculture, sericulture, horticulture, floriculture, aquaculture, animal husbandry, or forestry as well as products directly derived from this produce including milk, honey, and silk.
A beneficial scheme for farmers awaits ratification
Visa and STEM Power partner to break local and international barriers
Visa and the Ethiopian national non-governmental organization, STEM Power, have signed a partnership to help bring on some 3,600 technology innovators to the market.
The program aims to empower local technology start-up companies to break new barriers in the local and international markets over a three-year period years from September 30, 2020 to August 31, 2023. This will enable market players to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to break international barriers and will bring tailored skills to two distinct groups of micro business owners looking to establish and grow their businesses.
“This is a three-year partnership that adds financial education, money, skills and the support required by the technology entrepreneurs to come to the market,” said , Visa’s Head of Social Impact and the Vice President, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa in an interview.
According to Visa, limited access to loans and huge bureaucratic hurdles for starting and closing a business and lack of entrepreneurship and business process knowledge and skills at individual levels have been cited as some of the key business and entrepreneurship challenges in the country.
However, Mamadou said the ultimate aim of the project is to pilot a brand new system where entrepreneurs, scientists and educationalists from Ethiopia could create a learning experience from the implementation of the Visa/STEM Power partnership.
The Ethiopian Job Creation Commission is working to bridge the 14 million jobs gap by 2025 and 20 Million jobs gap by 2030.To this effect, the plan of action for job creation 2020-2025 has been drafted by outlining six strategic objectives. One of the six objectives is building a vibrant private sector by revamping the current support to Medium, Small, Micro Enterprises (MSMEs), effectively supporting high-potential and high-growth MSMEs and improving the quality of business development services.
One of high-potential and high-growth area in this regard is the creation and development of Tech SMEs.
Ethiopia’s top financial elite met at a landmark ceremony on Tuesday to launch a financial literacy program which aims to empower local technology start-up companies to break new barriers in the local and international markets and commit more firepower to technology innovators.
Visa hopes to use its global payments system to help the local commercial banks and the Small and Medium enterprises in Ethiopia access financial services.
Ethio-Telecom urges SIM Card ownership transfer
The sole Tele communication operator, Ethio-telecom continues to urge its customers to make SIM card ownership transfers as it is one of the tools used to accelerate the journey of digitalization and apart of the customer service improvements that the institution is implementing.
As the statement of the telecom service provider indicates, there are large amount of service subscribers using SIM cards subscribed by other user names.
Customers who do not transfer SIM card ownership in their name will find it difficult to accommodate additional services. Therefore, these services cannot be processed unless the person who issued the SIM card has previously requested for ownership transfer.
“In addition to customer abuse, SIM registration is important for both the company and its customers as it can also generate revenue from the service since the number of concerned customers is not insignificant,” the Tele communication operator stated.
“Besides allowing the actual user to benefit from the wide range of services provided to facilitate connectivity through mobile phones when customers use SIM cards subscribed by other user names, it makes difficult to get bank related services which may include mobile banking and other and also to participate in lottery opportunities through mobile numbers,” Ethio-Telecom added.
To solve the problem Ethio –telecom started the works for ownership transfer for the past two years, but they have not completed this activity citing the fact that customers may not be able to come to the mall due to the global pandemic and other various reasons. However, currently Ethio-telecom has rejuvenated the work as a campaign to finalize the transfer which will be beneficial to its customers.
Regardless of the company not currently setting a deadline, a deadline is to be set in future which is will be announced through media outlets.
However, it is advisable for customers to immediately contact Ethio Telecom’s sales centers and register their SIM card in their name as the above mentioned problems may occur at any time.
In addition, unnamed customers may find it difficult to obtain a replacement SIM when their service is interrupted for example, when their mobile phone is stolen or lost.
To transfer SIM ownership customers are required to bring a working SIM card to the sales center. They are further required to complete and sign the contract for the transfer of ownership. Furthermore, a time limit of a year is set if transfer of ownership is done without the consent of the other. Ethio-telecom currently serves 46.2 million subscribers.
የኢፌድሪ ሚኒስትሮች ምክር ቤት በትግራይ ክልል የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጅ አወጀ
የኢፌድሪ ሚኒስትሮች ምክር ቤት ዛሬ ጥቅምት 25/2013 ባደረገው 21ኛ አስቸኳይ ልዩ ስብሰባ መንግሥት የሀገርን ሰላምና ሕልውና፣ የሕዝብንና የዜጎችን ደህንነት የማረጋገጥ እና ሀገሪቷን ወደ ሁከትና ብጥብጥ የሚወስዱ ማናቸውንም ድርጊቶችን የመከላከል ሕገ መንግሥታዊ ኃላፊነት ያለበት መሆኑን በመገንዘብ፤ እንዲሁም በትግራይ ብሔራዊ ክልል ውስጥ ሕገ መንግሥቱንና ሕገ መንግሥታዊ ሥርዓቱን እንዲሁም የሕዝብን ሰላምና ፀጥታ አደጋ ላይ የሚጥሉ በተለይም የሀገርን ሉዐላዊነት የሚገዳደሩ፣ የፌደራል መንግሥት በሕገ መንግሥቱ የተሰጠውን ሥልጣንና ኃላፊነት በክልሉ እንዳይወጣ እና ሀገሪቷን የጦር አውድማ የሚያደርጉ፣ የፌዴሬሽን ምክር ቤት ውሳኔዎችን ጭምር በመጣስ በርካታ ሕገ ወጥ ተግባራት እየተፈፀሙ በመሆኑ፤ ይህን ሁኔታ በመደበኛው የሕግ ማስከበር ሥርዓት ለመከላከልና ለመቆጣጠር የማይቻልበት ደረጃ ላይ መደረሱን በመረዳት፤ በሕገ መንግሥቱ በተደነገገው መሠረት ሕገ መንግሥታዊ ሥርዓቱን ለመጠበቅ ልዩ እርምጃዎችን መውሰድ የሚያስችል የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጅ በመደንገግ እና ተግባራዊ በማድረግ ሁኔታውን በመቆጣጠር በሀገሪቱ ሰላምና ሕልውና ላይ የተጋረጠውን አደጋ መከላከል አስፈላጊ ሆኖ በመገኘቱ፤ በኢትዮጵያ ፌዴራላዊ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊክ ሕገ መንግሥት አንቀጽ 93/1/ሀ መሰረት የሚከተለው የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጅ ታውጆዋል።
የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጁ ለስድስት ወራት ተፈጻሚ የሚሆን ሲሆን፣ የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጁን የሚያስፈፅም በኢፌድሪ ጦር ኃይሎች ጠቅላይ ኢታማዦር ሹም ሰብሳቢነት የሚመራና አግባብነት ካላቸው አካላት የተወጣጡ አባላት ያሉት ግብረኃይል በዚህ አዋጅ ተቋቁሟል። ግብረኃይሉ ተጠሪነቱ ለጠቅላይ ሚኒስትሩ ሲሆን ‘‘የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጅ ግብረሀይል’’ ተብሎ ይጠራል።አዋጁ በመላው የትግራይ ብሔራዊ ክልላዊ መስተዳድር ተፈፃሚ የሚደረግ ሲሆን፣ እንደያስፈላጊነቱ የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጁ ተፈፃሚ ወይም ቀሪ የሚሆንባቸውን ተጨማሪ አካባቢዎችነ ግብረኃይሉ በሚያወጣው በመመሪያ ይወስናል። የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጁን አስመልክቶ ዝርዝር መርጃዎች በየጊዜው ለህብረተሰቡ የሚሰጡ ይሆናል።
