Ethiopia's Ministry of Agriculture announced that 85 percent of originally targeted 12.89 million hectares of farmland, which is close to 11 million hectares, is covered by seed this farming season.
Mandefro Nigussie, Ethiopia's State Minister of Agriculture, said the first phase of farming activities has been carried out in most parts of Ethiopia.
Consequently, Mr. Mandefro said, the sowing season that started in May has steadily propagated throughout the country to cover 85 percent of the farmland targeted for farming. “About 12.89 million hectares of land have been prepared to be covered with seeds this [raining] season. Currently, about 85 percent of the primed farmland has been covered with seeds," he said.
The rest, 15 percent of the farmland, will be covered by a variety of crops" like chickpea, vetch, and other crops while the volume of rain trims down," Mr. Mandefro added.
Most farmed crops are accounted for by cereals and grain, "and also teff, maize, sorghum, wheat, barley and rice", and the "overall agricultural performance is at an acceptable level," he said.
75 percent of Ethiopia's annual agricultural production is harvested from the rainy season crops, while 25 percent is harvested during the lesser rainy season of Belg and from irrigation. Regardless, the state minister pointed out, his Ministry intends to reap more fruit from the expansion of irrigation infrastructure in the coming years, with focus on wheat, soya bean, green mung bean, and fruits.
The Ministry of Agriculture plans to harvest some 360 million quintals of crop in 2020/2021.
Source: ENA
