Ethiopia sows 7 million hectares in push for food sovereignty: Minister
Ethiopia has so far planted seeds on seven million hectares of land during the current season, the country’s Agriculture Minister, Girma Amente, said.
According to Amente, Ethiopia has shown impressive performance in recent years across the main, spring, and irrigation harvest cycles.
The minister noted that the country aims to plant crops on 21 million hectares during the current planting season, in a bid to realize its vision for food security.
Large swathes of land have been planted with cereals, including maize, while the rest have wheat, barley, and other crops.
The official said that Ethiopia expects a better harvest this year, citing farmer education, the adoption of modern farming technologies, and the timely delivery of agricultural inputs, including fertilizer and improved seed varieties.
Amente added that the size of land cultivated under mechanized farming increased by one million hectares from the same period last year, reaching six million hectares.
Ethiopia’s target for this planting season is to harvest over 659 million quintals of crops.
In 2024, Ethiopia faced a severe food security crisis, with over 15.8 million people requiring food assistance. The crisis was attributed to conflict in the north and severe drought in the south and southeast.
Ethiopia’s 2024 Global Hunger Index score of 26.2 placed it at a serious level of hunger, ranking 102 out of 127 countries.
(With input from the Ethiopian News Agency)
