Public-Private Partnership Sows the Seeds of Digital Agriculture

Sep 2 , 2023


[ssba-buttons]

Nearly one million smallholder farmers across 150 woredas in six regional states foresee digital profiling and capacity-building services as the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) and Lersha, a digital agricultural platform signed a three-year agreement last week. Registration, agro-climate advisory and fertiliser recommendations will be given to farmers while enhancement of value chains in several grains including wheat and barley will be the main purpose of the agreement aside from augmenting ATI's farmer hotline service. ATI was established 13 years ago to transform the agricultural sector by working with the private sector and NGOs with funding from USAID and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Mandefro Nigussie (PhD), head of the Institute disclosed the willingness to engage with the private sector to improve service delivery and expand services while the founder of Lersha, Abraham Endrias indicated that there is a low adoption rate of technology in the country albeit expecting improvement after the agreement. Lersha joined the sector three years ago to provide aggregated farming information for both financial institutions and farmers by facilitating easy-to-handle technology. It has provided its services to over 100,000 farmers through 1,007 agents.


Radar

Amendment Expands Access for Foreign Traders

Foreign participation in Ethiopia's wholesale, retail, import, and export trade sectors has come under renewed focus as the Ethiopian Investment Board(EIB) approved a significant amendment to Directive No. 1001/2016  in its meeting on May 23, 2025. The amendment, proposed by the Ethiopian Investment Commission(EIC), focuses on refining the legal framework governing foreign investment in these sectors. The decision is part of a broader strategy to enhance the country's appeal as an investment...


Radar

NBE Sets Four Percent Ceiling on Foreign Exchange Fees

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) issued a new foreign exchange market directive on May 20, 2025, that caps commercial banks' forex service fees at a maximum of four percent. Banks are instructed to adapt competitive, transparent, and streamlined pricing for all forex-related services. Effective May 26, 2025, total charges for purchasing foreign exchange whether for imports, service payments, or cash note purchases must not exceed the newly set limit. The directive also prohibits banks f...


Radar

SantimPay Launches Zero-fee Digital Remittance Platform

SantimPay has rolled out FrankRemit, first fully integrated, zero-fee digital remittance platform, in partnership with Bank of Abyssinia(BOA). The service smoothly connects all commercial banks and major mobile money providers, including Telebirr, M-Pesa, and CBE Birr which is a first of its kind in the country. FrankRemit is expected to revolutionise how the Ethiopian diaspora sends money home. Developed locally and tested over the past two weeks with successful transfers from multiple count...