Growing Horticulture Sector Key to Transformation of Ethiopia’s Agriculture: AGRA Country Director

Addis Ababa: The horticulture sector, given additional attention and investment, can contribute significantly to the transformation of Ethiopia's agriculture, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) Country Director Yihenew Zewdie said. Ethiopia has a huge potential for the production and export of horticulture that can be competitive in the global market because of its proximity to the gateway of Africa, Middle East, and Europe. In an exclusive interview with ENA, AGRA Country Director Yihenew noted that the horticulture sector is a growing sector in Ethiopia. The sector has a huge potential, especially viewing it from the perspective of youth employment, women economic empowerment and addressing other challenges, he further stated. In addition, horticulture can be a source of income for a great majority of smallholder farmers, including women and the youth in Ethiopia. Noting that horticulture is an underexploited sub-sector within the agricultural sector, he added that it is going to contribu te significantly to the transformation of Ethiopia's agriculture with additional attention and investment. According to him, AGRA's working relationship with the government of Ethiopia has been excellent. AGRA's primary relationship currently is with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute, and the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research. 'Overall, we work with the Ethiopian government as well as with a range of the private sector and NGOs, civil society institutions, academics and research organizations.' One of the focus areas of AGRA is supporting the policy implementation capacity of governments as well as enhancing the capability of governments to implement programs adequately, it was stated. 'As matters stand now, we have an ongoing grant that we provided to the Ministry of Agriculture with the view to enhancing their capacity to coordinate priority crop value chains as well as to enhance their capacity to come up with specific directives, and regulatio ns from the recently enacted laws and proclamations.' For AGRA, supporting the government amounts to contributing significantly to the enabling environment that will drive agriculture inspired food systems transformation in Ethiopia, the country director emphasized. Established in 2006, AGRA is an African-led institution focused on scaling agricultural innovations that help smallholder farmers towards increased incomes, better livelihoods, and improved food security. Source: Ethiopian News Agency