Agriculture key to development

Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister Addisu Legesse has stressed that agriculture is the key to the country's development. Addisu, who is also the minister for rural development, told the Ethiopian House of People’s Representatives that the sector is a "bridge to rapid and sustainable economic development" in the country. Agriculture makes up around 60 percent of Ethiopia's Gross National Product (GNP) and more than 50 million people make their living from the sector. Observers point out that the newly-formed ministry of rural development is one of the most powerful ministries in Ethiopia. Eight major institutions including fertiliser projects, the ministry of agriculture, agricultural research centres and the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC) all operate under its umbrella. The minister presented his action plan to the House in Addis Ababa on Thursday, outlining his key plans for the future. The ministry is to target farmers in rural communities to help increase their understanding and train them on effective methods for development. The Ethiopian government has already started training some 10,000 students in 28 agricultural centres across the country. They will use their skills to help offer practical training to farmers at demonstration centres – designed to improve food security and reduce poverty in rural areas. "Agriculture, by and large, dominates the economy," Beyene Haile of the ministry of rural development told IRIN. "Formerly we used to have farmers who could barely read and write," said Beyene, who is head of food security at the ministry. "Those groups will have to accept new technology that is being promoted within their communities. To have that you need to have enlightened farmers and to have that you must have training." The ministry is keen for the farmers to use their own indigenous knowledge and combine it with new ideas and approaches to farming. Beyene said one problem faced by the ministry - which was set up in October 2001 - was how to get food to those that need it most. "When there are good rains there are pocket areas of hunger and areas that produce food in abundance, and the market at present is not able to move the extra harvest around the country," he noted. He said the ministry had to work hard to address this issue. One of the areas in which it could help was through the effective maintenance of roads. "Coffee is agriculture, hides and skins are agriculture and these are the major exports – without these there is no fuel, without fuel there is no movement...this is why agriculture is so important. We have to rely on our land so it is important we use it optimally," Beyene pointed out.