Jul 7 , 2024
A comprehensive national agricultural information project will be launched in early September 2024. The initiative aims to improve data collection and decision-making processes within the country's critical agricultural sector. High-level discussions on the project's implementation plan were held last week. Officials in attendance included Fitsum Assefa (PhD), minister of Planning & Development, Girma Amente (PhD), minister of Agriculture, and Beker Shale, director of the Ethiopian Statistical Services. Fistum expressed hopes that the census would provide the necessary informational input to inform agricultural decisions in the future as part of the second iteration of the Homegrown Economic Reform agenda. It is a national initiative focused on achieving sustainable economic growth through domestic resource mobilization and diversification. While conducting national censuses has taken a back seat with over two decades for agriculture products and around 17 years since the last population count, the ESS has plans to conduct both over the coming two years. The agricultural census will cover all regional states in the country and employ over 62,000 people, including civil servants, development partners, and the wider public. It will also cover smallholder farm households, commercial agricultural lands, and communal rural plots. Agriculture Minister Girma emphasised the importance of addressing the informational gap undermining productivity to increase food production and improve planning. He said the project's goals extend beyond simply improving food production to enhancing resource allocation, improving market access for farmers, and contributing to more effective overall agricultural planning within the country.
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