Ethiopia’s Offer to China, Mexico On Agricultural Modernization

The reformist government led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) is giving due attention to modernizing agricultural sector. Bilateral relations has been playing critical role in the sector since he took office on April 2, 2018. And the Ministry of Agriculture is working day in and day out to enhance food security and agricultural development.

As one of the efforts in modernizing the agricultural sector, Minister of Agriculture Girma Amente (PhD) discussed opportunities for cooperation in the agricultural mechanization sector with a high-level business delegation led by Li Xiaoyu, Vice President of China National Machinery Industry Corporation on Thursday.

The delegation members represented companies with significant potential in the agricultural mechanization sector. And they discussed in depth the significant contribution their participation has in Ethiopia with their huge capital, technology, and production capacity, to assist in modernizing the agricultural sector.

Minister Girma (PhD) noted that his Ministry of Agriculture is modernizing the agricultural sector by organizing farmers and implementing cluster farming and has been moving forward in the unaccustomed manner. “There is a huge demand for agricultural machinery, so we welcome your companies to meet this demand by providing various types of agricultural machinery that meet our standards.”

He also expressed his desire for Chinese investors to be engaged in agricultural product exports, small-scale irrigation technology, domestic agricultural machinery manufacturing, and other agricultural investment sectors, and expressed the Ethiopian government’s commitment in this regard, stating that a joint plan for effective work will be prepared and put into action.

In the same way, Li Xiaoyu, Vice President of China National Machinery Industry Corporation, for his part, explained his delegations’ extensive experience in modern agricultural machinery production, agricultural development, and agricultural research expressing the desire to work closely with the Ministry of Agriculture to meet the needs of the sector.

It is also important to recall that Ethiopia and China are brotherly nations and trading partners for many years. Consequently, their further cooperation in enhancing bilateral economic cooperation to a higher level assists to achieve win-win results, mutual socioeconomic developments as well as for advancing joint modernization.

In the same way, the Minister has held a discussion with the Mexican Ambassador to Ethiopia Alejandro Ives Estival Castro on Wednesday regarding modernizing his sector.

In briefing the areas of cooperation between the two countries in the agricultural sector to the Ambassador, Dr Girma reaffirmed Ethiopia’s interest in working together to promote agricultural technologies, improve and expand the value chain of Bonga Products, and working on irrigation development, durum wheat development, soil health, and Green Legacy.

“Ethiopia is prioritizing soil health and is keen to work closely with Mexico on this,” the Minister noted adding that Ethiopia is now producing wheat, which was rain-fed five years ago, on a large scale through irrigation. “Mexico should continue its support through the Center for International Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT). She also requested that Mexican private investors engage in processing products and modernize agriculture to meet the growing mechanization needs of farmers.”

In Ethiopia, 7.5 million hectares land is acidic and 11 million hectares are saline, he elucidated calling on Mexico to support in efforts to improve soil health protection.