Ethiopia’s agricultural mechanisation plan requires about 50,000 tractors. However, only about 8,000 are functional.
The wheat harvested from summer irrigation in the Shebele, Omo and Awash basins could be a grand ambition for the country and its leaders. But the buzz has also motivated small-scale commercial farmers like Getachew to try something new this year.
The lands here have their set of challenges, however, the biggest of which is floods. Farmers here are also facing overwhelming weeds this year. In an agro-pastoralist society, harvest is also lost to cattle looking for pasture. The authorities hope that if many of the 18 million farmers put together the pieces of land, the combined effect on productivity could be enormous. That way, they believe they can meet their ambitious target of ploughing over one million hectares by next year, more than double what they say was farmed last year.
Two years ago, local administrators convinced Girma to join the cluster and off-season farming initiatives. He and nearly 1,700 farmers in Dengugi Kebele have thus far signed up for the initiative launched three years ago.But Girma’s productivity has not improved. He used to harvest up to 20 quintals of wheat on each hectare before he signed up and sold half of his crop for 2,800 birr a quintal. Last year, his productivity slumped by half.
This number, which represents the aggregate land used for other crops throughout the year, has been achieved mostly through smallholder farmers like Girma and Arega. “This financial commitment is important since it can get complicated finding support from donors in irrigation,” said Zeleke Belay, an irrigation engineering expert. “Most water bodies cross borders and make for a hydro-political issue.”
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