2merkato

Karuturi Agro Products Plc said that Indian farmers were only hired as consultants, denying claims that it had sub-leased land.
Indian farmers have been hired to consult on specialty crops such as cotton said Birinder Singh Executive Director of Karuturi.

Invitations for consultancy were extended to everyone including Ethiopian agriculture experts and not just to Indians according to Mr. Singh.  

The Karuturi project in Ethiopia is an international effort, stresses the executive director.

The Indian agribusiness, Karuturi Global, is to outsource 20,000 hectares of land it had leased in Gambella Regional State to Indian farmers. The farmers are to cultivate the land on a profit sharing basis at a ratio of 65:35.   

The company plans to sub contract the land and necessary infrastructure to farmers who specialize in the cultivation of specific crops according to a senior Karuturi official. Karuturi has already had discussions with Punjabi farmers interested in this venture earlier this year, as part of its plans for expansion.

The Kassem Dam project is near to completion according to the Water Works Design and Supervision Enterprise. The project launched at a total cost of 2.5 billion birr is expected to finalize in November.

Eight-five percent of the construction project has already been finalized with the last stage of the project began seven years underway according to Ashnafi Yelekal, Engineer Manager with the Kessem Dam and Irrigation Project.

The dam which is expected to have the potential to retain more than 500 million cubic meters of water that can cultivate more than 20 thousand hectares of land can currently cultivate 1500 hectares of land said Ashnafi.

The Dam construction project is being undertaken by the Water Works Construction Enterprise. The dam is expected to be the biggest dam to be constructed by the enterprise. The project has created job opportunities for the local community.

Source: ENA

KCB Group announced plans to open representative office in Ethiopia to facilitate trade flow across the Horn of Africa and East Africa, The Daily Monitor reported.

Kefi Minerals has awarded Ausdrill, subsidiary of African Mining Services (AMS) to undertake all pre-mining earthworks and open pit mining at its Tulu Kapi gold mining project, Mining weekly reported.