The government is engaged in setting up nearly 200 one-stop agricultural supply shops within three years in four regional states at an estimated cost of 624 million Br.

The Agricultural Transformation Agency, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and regional bureaus, will establish the shops through a public-private partnership arrangement. The project aims at expanding smallholder farmers’ access to agricultural inputs such as fertilisers, pesticides, agrochemicals, veterinary drugs and seeds along with advisory services.

The project aims at improving smallholder farmers’ productivity, food security and incomes through the development of private sector driven and market-oriented agricultural supply and services, according to Yitbarek Semeane (PhD), director of inputs at the Agency.

"Agricultural productivity in Ethiopia is low, due largely to limited availability of inputs," said Yitbarek.

Studies show that Ethiopia is one of the lowest countries in terms of agricultural input utilisation. Fertiliser and pesticide use per hectare of arable land is 18.47Kg and 0.25Kg, respectively, well below the average. Ethiopia has 71.4 million farmers who cultivate 13 million hectares of land. As of the last fiscal year, the contribution of agriculture to GDP was 34.9pc.

Farmers currently use agrochemicals they buy at informal markets, which are neither regulated nor checked, according to Yitbarek, who says that some of the chemicals are defective and entered the country through contraband. The largest collection of shops, 80, will be located in Oromia Regional State; Amhara Regional State will have 54; Southern Nations, Nationalities, & Peoples' Regional State will have 48; and Tigray Regional State will have 18. The construction of one shop is estimated to cost between two million Br and 2.5 million Br, and 30,000 dollars is required for a onetime supply of agricultural inputs.

The scale of agricultural activities in the regions and how the benefits of such shops could be maximised were the two primary criteria in selecting the four regional states, according to Yitbarek. To date, the construction of 53 centres has been initiated with six shops already completed. The construction of 10 more centres is also expected to be finalised before the end of this year.

In the selected weredas, the Agency held an outreach campaign where it communicated and explained about the benefit of the shops, how they will be set up and operated, with the hope of getting private parties to vie for their ownership. The shops will be constructed and operated by beneficiaries including farmers, cooperatives and business persons who have submitted their proposals. They will be selected after the Agency conducts due diligence of the bidders, evaluates their financial capacity and existing assets, as well as their background and knowledge in the field.

The winning private party, at its own cost, then enters into a contract with the Agency to build the centre that lies on a 200Sqm plot within a nine-month period of time. The shops will be built in line with the Agency's design criteria including chemical safety rooms, a training area and staff facilities.

“We want the shops to be run by professionals,” said Yitbarek. “The Agency will pay the first year salary of the staff, and the shop owner will continue from there.”