Agriculture-Ethiopia - The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) has identified and added 1.9 million hectares to its land bank which it plans to lease out for development. Out of this, 342,099ht have already been leased during the first six months of 2011, according to the six-month performance report read to members of Parliament on Tuesday, March 15, 2011, at the 15th Regular Session. The government's land banking procedure entails designating arable land with the intent to hold on to it until such time as it is profitable for the land to be developed. The government has been especially active adding more arable plots from hot and arid (kolla) areas of the country. After identifying, testing, and studying various tracts of land, the government has been able to identify 1,896,228ht of arable land in the country, according to this six-month performance report.

The total area of land the government has incorporated into its land bank has reached 3.6 million hectares, Tefera Derbew, minister of MoA, told Parliament.

Some 342,099ht have been transferred to both local and foreign investors in lease contracts, and the ministry plans to transfer the remaining plots to investors and farmers who will be engaged in growing "priority produce." The investments will be designed in a way that will not harm local communities or the environment; since a special code of practice has been put in place by the ministry as a safeguard, the report states.

The government also plans to broaden agricultural investments to areas that are in the vicinity of cities and towns so as to generate "high-value" produce using limited plots of land while utilising the available workforce.

In addition, the ministry has accessed loans amounting to 319.5 million dollars and 7.4 million Br in order to purchase 584,886 metric tonnes of fertiliser for this year. In January 2010, it acquired 120,870 metric tonnes, raising this year's fertiliser acquisitions to 384,846 metric tonnes, the government revealed to the assembled MPs.

In addition to the fertiliser that the government has bought this year, there are 249,382 metric tonnes left over from last year, Tefera told Parliament. "There will not be a shortage of fertiliser this year, as we have ample stock," he assured MPs while also revealing this year's fertiliser demand to be around 834,267 metric tonnes.

The government plans to plant 379ht of flowers and 452ht of fruits and vegetables by the end of the 2010/11 fiscal year, according to the ministry's projections for this year. So far, it has planted 59ht and 403ht, respectively.

The country has generated 91.3 million dollars in revenue from horticulture through the export of 800.1 million flowers and 43,700 tonnes of vegetables within the last six months, the minister testified before MPs.

"This is only 59pc of the ministry's planned 156.1 million dollars in revenues it intended to collect during the six-month period," he told Parliament.

However, the forecast for the past six months did not meet expectations, according to the ministry which sited inefficiency, lack of quality, poor management among companies, production cost increases, and the decline of the international market due to global climate change, among its reasons.

By ADERAJEW ASFAW

Addis Fortune/22/03/2011