Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) announces 70 percent of the farmers in Tigray have started their farming for the coming major crop season.
Sani Redi, State Minister of MoA, said that latest information indicates that farmers in the Tigray region are in activity to cover long-season crops like sorghum and maize in the coming rainy season, which is the major harvesting period not only in the region but for the country.
“The Tigray grain crop production has mainly commenced in Meher and on average we expect to cultivate 950,000 hectares,” he said.
He added that agricultural development experts have started providing farm-to-farm extension services in 46 rural woredas.
He says based on the preparation for the coming agriculture season 1.8 billion birr is allocated to purchase and transport 800,000 quintals of fertilizer, out of which 322,864 quintal NPS and Urea are transported from port of Djibouti to Mekele central warehouse. “In addition to 214,864 quintals of fertilizer a total of 537,728 (67%) quintal fertilizer has already been made available in central warehouse and 210,795 quintals transported to 27 Woreda and also 91,000 quintal fertilizer distributed to farmers,” the state minister explained.
Regarding improved seed supply, the state minister said that 335 million birr is allocated to purchase and transport 120,000 quintal of seed. Of which 97,246.5 quintals have already been purchased with 66,387.5 quintals and 44,656 quintals being transported to Mekele and Woredas respectively, while 26,000 quintal seed being distributed to farmers.
Similarly, agro chemicals are also under distribution and or will be distributed in some parts as per the schedule.
Mekelle University and Agricultural Transformation Agency are working together to provide tractors to plough land of farmers who have been looted of their oxen.
In addition to that, the interim government of the region has allocated 24 million birr to purchase tractors to give ploughing services through cooperatives.
“As the livestock resource has a great impact on the livelihood of the farmers, the government and partners have allocated 71.9 million birr for livestock restocking and over 11.1 million birr to purchase and supply of 6,660 quintal of fodder seed. Of which, 23,058 quintal is purchased and 180.5 quintal is distributed,” Sani added.
He said that for its very special situation in Tigray, this Meher cropping season plan was prepared jointly with MoA and Regional agriculture bureau. From the 70 percent of 950,000 hectares of land is expected to be cultivated which will result in 1.4 million metric ton of production of mainly sorghum, teff, sesame, wheat, finger millet, barely, and maize will be harvested. “If the peace and restoration become promising in all woredas of Tigray, the Meher performance will be in better of that of 70 percent,” the state minister added.
According to Sani, the food gap in Tigray is expected to be filled by the coordinated action of the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) which already supporting 1.1 million beneficiaries in 55 woredas and can increase its number of beneficiaries through scalable PSNP and humanitarian food support.
Furthermore, the supply from the national market and the neighboring Amhara region which produces a marketable surplus can create a positive impact on grain market supply as long as the peace is maintained.
MoA, regional agriculture bureau collaborate in Tigray farmlands
Hellotaxi bridges tourist transport gap
Hellotaxi handed over more than 200 locally assembled 7-seater tourist standard vehicles for drivers on June 17, 2021in the presence of senior government officials.
“Realizing that there is not enough tourist transport facility in the country to accommodate both local and international tourists, our company has launched the first large-scale tourist taxi service in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism,” said Daniel Yohannes, owner and general manager of the company.
The cars, initially worth one million birr, have gone down to 690,000 birr with the tax exemption. Hello taxi also facilitated loans to its customers with an initial payment of only 25 percent of the car with the rest of the payment to be completed within 5 years,
During the handing-over event, Culture and Tourism State Minister, Buzena Alkider said that Ethiopia has a huge potential for job creation opportunity on the tourism sector.
O’Clock General Motors, which had initially started the process of recruiting different blue taxi owners in the city nearly two years ago, delivered it through Hello Taxi, which will be working with the drivers in providing the tourist service.
“We are honored to be able to create jobs for many citizens, both directly and indirectly,” said Daniel.
Previously, Hello taxi handed in the first round a year ago, Toyota Yaris Sedans with a four-cylinder 1.3 horsepower five-seater, currently used in Dubai, at the Sheraton Addis Hotel, and in the second round handed over 36 7-seater cars mostly from Turkey and Thailand.
Laying foundation for coal mining in Ethiopia
A foundation stone for the establishment of the Sun Mining Coal factory the first coal factory in Ethiopia has been laid out at Gibe Ibare Kebele in Abeshge Woreda of Gurage Zone, Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region on June 14, 2021 by Takele Uma, Minister of Mines and Petroleum and the Head of Southern Region, Ristu Yirdaw amongst other government officials.
Sun Mining trading is a sister company of Sunshine Investment Group. The proposed coal production plant will have an annual production capacity of 800,000 tons of washed coal.
Sun Mining had officially received the 23.3 hectare land permit from the Gurage zone for factory construction.
“Although our country is rich in minerals and natural resources, it has not been able to make the most of this potential. Coal is one of these potential natural resources,” stated Takele.
On the contrary, the country spends up to 200 million dollars annually importing coal for use in cement production and energy generation.
Recognizing this, at the invitation of the Minister of Mines and Petroleum, Sun Mining conducted a full feasibility study including washability study sending samples to South Africa for improved quality of the coal and installation of the coal washing plant in the Gurage zone. As a result, Sun Mining is currently working on factory design.
According to the company, the total investment cost of the project is over 600 million birr, of which up to 190 million birr will be spent on the purchase of machinery for the factory.
The factory is said to be made in line with the latest technology so that the environment is not polluted.
According to the project study, the construction of the factory will take a total of 11 months and will be completed on time. Following the completion, when the factory is operational, it will supply the products to the cement factories, which is expected to save up to 67.5 million dollar and will create jobs for a total of 500 local residents and more than 1,500 organized associations.
First vegetable seeds grown in BASF’s new production facility in Ethiopia
The first seeds produced at BASF’s new state-of-the-art production facility in Ethiopia enter the global vegetable seed market. Located in Amhara region, the facility offers ideal year-round production conditions for sweet pepper, tomato and cucumber. It is BASF’s first high-tech greenhouse complex in Africa.
“We invested around €8 million into this new facility. It will provide us with extra supply reliability and flexibility to serve our customers worldwide,” said Vicente Navarro, Senior Vice President of BASF’s vegetable seeds business. “Sustainable food production is very important to us and we want to do our part. That is why we are very proud of this new facility: It makes us a frontrunner in terms of establishing the first sustainable high-tech seed production site in Ethiopia with fully automated processes for climate control including humidity, heating and irrigation.”
The premises cover a surface of 15 hectares: two hectares are occupied by
state-of the-art greenhouses while the rest is used for open field seed production facilities and infrastructure. Currently, around 60 permanent employees are working at the new site. In addition, BASF also provides employment to more than 100 seasonal workers. Most of the employees were recruited from the surrounding areas and trained in-house.
“We are thrilled to have the first high-tech seed production site in Ethiopia built in the highest sustainability standards and with commitment to the society needs. This investment will not only enable BASF to serve better our customers, but it also reinforces our objective of growing Africa and contributing to the upliftment of the continent’, said Juliana Hosken Wernek, Head of Market Area Africa.
The site fulfills BASF health, safety and environmental standards and goes beyond Ethiopia’s common sustainability requirements. To reduce its carbon footprint, mainly renewable energy sources are used to generate electricity. The greenhouses are heated with solar panels. Furthermore, the facility has its own wastewater treatment plant and all the waste it produces can be recycled on site.
In addition, BASF is engaged in numerous social responsibility initiatives in the vicinity of the site. “I am very proud to see that apart from delivering seeds to Ethiopian smallholder farmers, we are also involved in projects for reforestation and soil erosion control in the area,” stressed Ben Depraetere, Managing Director Nunhems Ethiopia PLC and Country Head of BASF’s vegetable seed business in Ethiopia. “We want the local community to benefit. That is why, for example, we also supply the community around our site with safe drinking water, have invested in building new road infrastructure and established a fund to create job projects for unemployed young people from the surrounding area.”
BASF SE is a German multinational chemical company and the largest chemical producer in the world. The company operates in six segments, including chemicals, plastics, performance products, functional solutions, agricultural solutions, and oil and gas.
The BASF Group comprises subsidiaries and joint ventures in more than 80 countries and operates six integrated production sites and 390 other production sites in Europe, Asia, Australia, the Americas and Africa. Its headquarters is located in Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has customers in over 190 countries and supplies products to a wide variety of industries.
At the end of 2019, the company employed 117,628 people. In 2019, BASF posted sales of €59.3 billion. The company is currently expanding its international activities with a particular focus on Asia.
