Ethiopia's Ministry of Agriculture launched a national Pump and Engine Testing Center that can test and certify both local and imported small scale irrigation pumps and engines.

The center, built at a cost of 19.13 million birr (close to $606,000), is co-funded by the Netherlands and Canada. 

Kaba Urgessa, State Minister of Agriculture, officially launching the center, said ensuring the quality of pumps and engines is crucial for increasing agricultural productivity of small scall irrigation. Pointing out that about 20 percent of imports are below standard and the waste rate is high, he said there is the need to "test and certify the standard of locally produced and imported pumps and engines for small scale irrigation."

Teshale Belihu, Director-General of Ethiopian Conformity Assessment Enterprise (ECAE), for his part, said the center will be key in helping ensure the quality of pumps and engines. This, Mr. Teshale said, are desired for irrigation by a large segment of small scale farmers.

Ethiopia's second Growth and Transformation Plan two (GTP II) targets 80 percent of smallholder farmers to have at least one source of water for irrigation.

Around a million farmers in Ethiopia make use of small scale irrigation, where about 210-400 thousand of them use motor pumps, of which up to 20 percent of the estimated motorized imports are dysfunctional, it was indicated.

More than 482,000 different types of pumps have been imported between 2004 and 2010 alone, it was learned. The import of pumps has seen a 15 percent rise between 2006 and 2016, causing a rise in price along with it.

Source: ENA