Jun 3 , 2023
A three-year project to combat soil acidification and erosion through nature-based solutions was availed last week. It was spearheaded by Farm Africa Ethiopia with financial assistance from the Swedish Embassy. The Ambassador of Sweeden to Ethiopia, Hans Lundquist, signed the partnership agreement with the director of Farm Africa Ethiopia, Shewit Amanuel. The project is expected to be implemented across five regional states and 35 districts, where 87,400 households are expected to be beneficiaries. The Ministry of Agriculture revealed in its nine-month report in April that a whopping 43pc of the country's arable land is plagued by excessive acid content reducing fertiliser effectiveness. With the Ministry only managing to import 12pc of its planned 900,000qtl of limestone due to a budgetary squeeze, the impact of acidity on reducing agricultural productivity had been forewarned by experts. The agricultural sector contributes close to 40pc of the country's GDP while also employing two-thirds of the labour force. A combination of drought in Oromia Regional State, delayed delivery of fertilizer due to forex crunch and spurts conflict in several parts of the country have cast a precarious shadow over the next harvest season. Farm Africa was founded in 1985 by Sir Michael Wood, founder of AMREF Health Africa and David Campbell in response to the famine occurring in Ethiopia.
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