Ministers Council Nods to Contract Farming Bill

Aug 20 , 2022


The Council of Ministers has approved a bill that looks to formalise contract farming models. Federal officials hope to encourage expanding a demand-driven farming system by rolling out a legal framework that allows agro-processing industries to source raw materials from millions of small-scale farmers. In the making for the past five years, the bill was initially under the Agricultural Transformation Institute (formerly an Agency) before the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) took over the mandate three years ago. It intends to legalise contract farming models. Contract farming has been limited to a few agricultural commodities, including oilseeds, sugarcane, and barley. The bill will be tabled to lawmakers when Parliament reconvenes next month.


Radar

Yirgalem Hospital Inaugurates New Oxygen Production Plant

A new oxygen production plant has been inaugurated at Yirgalem Hospital Medical College in Sidama Regional State. The launch was attended by the regional state's chief administrator Desta Ledamo and Health Minister Mekdes Daba (PhD). Desta noted that a new kidney dialysis centre will soon be opened as well. Mekdes stated that the Ministry is working to increase the number of oxygen production facilities from the current 10 to 34 nationwide. The Yirgalem plant cost 86 million Br to build and h...


Radar

Corridor Develops with Parking, Recklessness Concerns, Research Finds

Research involving 400 respondents across four first-round corridor development routes revealed major challenges to the initiative. The study, conducted by Shaka Analytics and ETC Institute in collaboration with the Addis Abeba City Transport Bureau, examined the impact of the program on transportation patterns, transit accessibility, and parking availability. The routes—Arat Kilo to Bole Deldey, Embassy of England to Arat Kilo, Mexico roundabout to Wello Sefer, and Piassa to Arat Kilo—we...


Radar

Digitalisation Spreads to the Court System

Ethio telecom and the Amhara Regional State Supreme Court have agreed to implement a Smart Court project in Bahir Dar to modernize court operations using digital technology. This agreement includes building a modern network infrastructure, implementing cloud services, creating a modular data centre, establishing a network operations control centre, and connecting the region's courts with a secure digital network. The project is designed to facilitate secure digital information exchange betwee...