Agriculture News and Developments

[Simfan34]

Wake me up when sales go above a billion and Ethiopia produces over 500,000 metric tons.

EDIT: Wait, the FAO says production was 325,800 metric tons in 2007?

[abesha]

Ethiopia presses with Nile projects despite Egypt’s opposition

Ethiopia has launched its biggest ever irrigation project over the Nile River after receiving US$100 million from the World Bank. The project is going ahead despite disapproval from Egypt, which is against such activities along the Nile.

It will become Ethiopia’s biggest water project along the Nile alongside the Great Renaissance Dam hydro power dam project.

Construction of the Renaissance Dam, which will boost Ethiopia’s electricity exports in the region, sparked a diplomatic row with Egypt over the use of the Nile’s water.


Hayalsew Yilma, the programme coordinator in the Ethiopian ministry of Water and Energy on Tuesday said a feasibility study and detailed design works for the Megech-Seraba and Ribb irrigation project were now complete.


The project is expected to 100,000 hectares of land in the Horn of Africa country's Nile Basin.



The World Bank approved a loan of US$ 100 million in 2008 to help the country increase its agricultural productivity, accelerate growth and reduce rural poverty.

About 20,000 hectares of land will be put under irrigation with water from Lake Tana, Ethiopia's largest lake, and the Ribb River.

The country also aims to irrigate another 20,000 hectares of land to boost agricultural production by subsistence farmers, in northwestern Ethiopia, in order to enable them sell to surplus crops.


Studies are currently being conducted for an additional 97,000 hectares of land to be put under irrigation.

Lake Tana is the biggest source of water for the Nile River, which runs through nine African countries


Egypt's disapproval


Meanwhile, Egypt has expressed its concern on all projects that seek to use the Nile River arguing that colonial-era agreements with the British signed in the 1920s and 1950s still stand.


But analysts say Egypt has changed its tone, choosing to negotiate, since Ethiopia launched Africa’s biggest dam over the Nile River.


The Renaissance hydro-electric project will generate around 5,250 MW of power by 2015.


Egypt and Ethiopia have held high level discussions on the use of the Nile River over the past couple of months during which Ethiopia has, reportedly, sought to assure its northern neighbour that none of the projects over the Nile will negatively impact the Nile Basin countries.


But Egypt says it will closely monitor the projects.


Nile Basin countries

Ethiopia and other riparian countries that form part of the Nile Basin, with the exception of Egypt and Sudan, are pushing for equity sharing of the river.


Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya, last year signed a cooperative framework agreement for an equitable use of the river and strip Egypt and Sudan of their veto rights.


For several decades, Egypt held veto rights over all upstream projects using powers granted by a 1929 colonial-era treaty with Britain.


A latter deal between Egypt and Sudan in 1959 gave the two downstream countries more than 90 percent control of the Nile.

Ethiopia's decision to undertake development projects on the Nile was encouraged by the cooperative framework agreement which was signed by a majority of the Nile Basin countries.


South Sudan


The Ethiopian government has also held discussions with the newly independent state of South Sudan seeking its approval for the projects.


Although South Sudan has been non committal on the matter, it is likely to support Ethiopia’s stance because of the strong ties that now exist between the two countries.


In the meantime, Hayalsew has announced that Ethiopia is "looking to hire a contractor to start the project implementation phase” of the irrigation project.

Feasibility studies for Megech-Robit, Negeso and Upper Beles irrigation projects to develop an additional 80,000 hectares of land have also been finalised.

There were reports that the irrigation projects will increase the country’s agricultural productivity six fold and ensure its sustainable economic growth.

In addition to the World Bank loan, government has allocated some US$10 million for the irrigation projects.

Ethiopia recently launched a five-year growth and transformation plan that aims to multiply irrigated land by five to about 10,000 hectares by mid-2015.

As much as 2.2 million hectares of Ethiopia’s 3.7 million hectares of irrigable land is in the Nile Basin, according to a study by the Horn of Africa country's government.

http://www.theafricareport.com/archi...pposition.html

[abesha]

Ambo Gnemer Agro & Integrated Industries - Making citizens become investors

Prominent personalities mostly from Ambo have established a company--Ambo Gnemer Agro & Integrated Industries—which weeks ago secured the vastest arable land (128,000 ha) so far taken by a single local company in the country. This has made the company, whose projects has yet to materialized, join the rank and file of a few foreign investors who are waiting to receive massive arable lands reaching up to 300,000 ha, six times the size of Addis, as is the case for the Indian Conglomerate, Karuturi. The founders of Ambo Gnemer Agro & Integrated S. Co. include Mitiku Tesso (Ph.D.), President of Ambo University, Dr Zewdu Zeleke, board chairman of the company, Athlete Tesfaye Tolla, Dereje Dejene, UNDP Economic Growth and Poverty reduction Head, Gizaw Teklemariam (Eng.), co-founder of Habesha Cement S.Co. and former general manager of Mugher Cement and Abera Bekele (Eng.), board member of the company.


The Reporter: You are poised to be engaged in projects set to be implemented on a vast land, in fact the largest one to be secured by a single local company so far in the country. Could you highlight the projects you will be engaged in?


Dereje: As its name indicates, our company will basically be engaged in agro businesses and integrated industries classified under five major categories: agriculture and agricultural products, cement and construction materials, mines, industries and commerce. To go into some of the details, our company will develop sugarcane plantation on a vast land and establish a huge sugar factory that can produce up to 1,000 tonnes of sugar a day. We will produce fruits and vegetables, edible oil, and other agricultural products and supply them both to the local and export market. The company will be engaged in agro industry activities and raising animals such as ostriches, chicken and fish, pack its products by itself for the export market. It will also raise live animals, including goats and sheep and establish a big slaughterhouse. It will pack animal products for the export market. The company will be engaged in coffee plantation and produce a variety of selected seeds. It will be engaged in a bee farm and produce honey both for the local and the export market. It will produce essence for the local and export market.

The company will establish various industries, including cement, marble, gypsum, textile and glass factories. It will be engaged in mining and related development activities. It will have trade houses conducing commercial and trade activities, among many other business operations.



Reporter: You said the land you have secured is so vast. Wouldn’t irrigating such a vast land be a challenging task?


Dereje: It will be a real-time challenge, but not without a real-time solution. First of all, note should be taken that we are not going to irrigate all the 128,000 ha land. All the same, we have ample resources to irrigate the farmlands we will develop by employing modern and appropriate irrigation technologies and by using the rivers that cross or borders the region, the major one big Gouder River, one of the major tributaries of Blue Nile. In fact, we might have to irrigate 25,000 to 30,000 ha land and that would not be an easy thing to do technically and financially.

Full interview is found on the link; I just quoted the parts specifically about agriculture.

http://www.ethiopianreporter.com/pre...iew&Itemid=518

[Yoniii]

India-based Sara Cotton to farm in Ethiopia

India-based Sara Cotton Fibers Private Limited will invest $6.4 million, has it has raised through a mix of equity and debt, in order to fund its plans, to undertake cotton farming in Ethiopia and will produce 50,000 bales of cotton. (One bale = 180 kgs), which it will be selling to leading spinning mills in India, Pakistan, China, and Sri Lanka.

Initially, Sara Cotton will cultivate cotton on around 25,000 acres and has targeted revenues of $50 million in the next 18-24 months. Over a 5-7 year period, the cotton company plans to increase the acreage to 500,000 acres.

Sara Cotton has tied up with Israel based Hazera Genetics, a leading international player with presence in 60 countries in breeding, production and marketing of innovative hybrid seeds of vegetables and field crop seeds and with US based John Deere for agricultural equipments.

It is also planning a community development program as a CSR measure by helping the local community in establishing schools & hospitals. Further it also plans to open Agroskill Development Institute (ADLI) wherein, skilled agro technicians and laborers will be given theoretical and practical training.

Fibre2fashion spoke exclusively with Mr KS Sundhar Rajan, Group Financial Controller, Sara Cotton Fibers who said, “The Ethiopian government has also recently announced cotton as a priority sector for the country and offers a very investor friendly climate for corporate. Incentives for our expansion include a three-year tax holiday, duty-free machinery imports and duty-free import of spares up to 15% of the machinery value.

http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/te...news_id=101814

[Ahadu]

Originally Posted by abesha

Ambo Gnemer Agro & Integrated Industries - Making citizens become investors

Full interview is found on the link; I just quoted the parts specifically about agriculture.

http://www.ethiopianreporter.com/pre...iew&Itemid=518

Locals are coming in big...this, for sure, will shut up the Diaspora's "Land grab" noise. Local investors need to wake up and see left and right where the real beef is - Agriculture!

[yosef]

some pics of Tendaho-Kesem project
from China Jiangxi Corporation website

intake tower


construction at the intake tower


foundation


steel trolly and reinforcement


diversion tunnel


concrete spillway




Source: China Jiangxi

[abesha]

Share Company to raise capital to 100 mln birr

Timir Agro Industry Share Company plans to increase its share sales from the current 25 million birr to 100 million birr by May 2012. The company plans the sale of its shares for the various expansion projects and various business activities.

The company has acquired on July 2011, 20 hectares of land from the Amhara regional state in North Shoa Zone Hagere Mariam city near Sheno city 65 km north of Addis Ababa. The land was given by the government and is to be used by the Share Company for the building of a dairy farm and products a processing plant, an improved animal feed area for forage as well as for highland fruits and vegetables farm.

According to Gebeyehu Bekele General Manager of Timir Agro Industry Share Company, ‘We previously had requested up to 50 hectares of land with a view to compensating the area’s farmers with up to three million birr and intended to start dairy and dairy products processing plants and other related ventures. However, we had to wait more than a year for the processing of the request of land and were offered only 30 hectares with a compensation scheme of 1.7 million birr for farmers of which the Oromia administration offered us only 10 hectares for our immediate use the rest contingent on our performance. Because of this we instead choose the Amhara state’s land offer.’

He further said the new place is closer to Addis Ababa by eight kilometers than the previous one in Oromia was and it is right next to the Addis Ababa- Northern Ethiopia Asphalt highway. He added that the company has already made plans to acquire about 60 hectares of land to expand activities such as a farm for about 500 hybrid cows producing milk and milk products.

‘We have already done preliminary work on the 20 hectares of land such as planting trees to act as wind breaks and shades while also planning to start construction of the project on October,’ Gebeyehu told Capital.

The share company already has a modern dairy farm complete with trucks and machinery at a cost of about 4.6 million birr in Sendafa area near Addis Ababa. This farm has around 100 cows which were purchased on July 2010 and lies on two hectares but the company says because of its closeness to the city it cannot be expanded. The Sendafa farm has also an Apiary (bee keeping farm) which has already sold samples of unpacked honey and has plans for the further sale of unpacked honey in the future.

It is also in the process of finalizing the acquisition an area for an animal fattening and meat processing plant for export use in the Alem Tena area of East Shoa zone. Currently the area for this plant is only one hectare of land because of the scarcity of land for investment, but he says the company has a promise from the authorities to give two hectares of area.

The share company also has plans in the future for a poultry processing plant and an irrigated vegetable and fruit agro-industry.

The share company blamed its slow pace of investment on the long land acquisition process it was subjected to, the confusion and the loss of momentum it had due to a name change from Hibir Agro Industry Share Company to Timir Agro Industry Share Company and the time gap it had in advertising itself to the public by means of print and broadcast media.

The company had decided in its first founding shares conference on April 2010 to do its share selling activities side by side with its investment activities instead of selling shares first and investment activities later on.

http://capitalethiopia.com/index.php...-news&Itemid=4

[yosef]

Zablon opens oil seed, pulse processing plant in Adama

By Elias Gebreselassie
Monday, 10 October 2011 10:21

Zablon trading Private Limited Company inaugurated its cleaning plant for oilseed and pulses, costing 30 million birr and occupying a space of 10,000 square meters in Adama city, 99 kilometers south east of Addis Ababa on October 1, 2011. The company which was formed two years ago also imports Eurotrakker trucks to sell on the local market.

The plant which has created job opportunities for 50 permanent and 30 temporary workers also has two warehouses that are able to hold 140 thousand and 60 thousand quintals of oilseeds and pulses. Turkish machines at the factory can clean around 60 quintals per hour. It also has a conference hall, security room, reception center, a worker’s cafeteria, laboratory, inspection control room and fumigation center. It will clean and sort over 1,200 quintals of export quality oil seeds and pulses every year.

The company exports its sesame procured from the Gondar area mainly to Israel of up to 20,000 quintals of sesame seeds have been exported to Israel. The pulses have been exported since July 2011 to countries like China, Turkey and the US with the company claiming that it has already established contracts to supply its customers with the cleaned agricultural produce.

The company also has plans to open a plant for ferrous iron used for houses and to also promote and expand the market need for green mung beans which are mainly found in the Shoa Robit area of Ethiopia but are recently being grown in the Assosa area of western Ethiopia fetching up to one thousand birr per quintal.

read the rest at CapitalEthiopia

[yosef]

PepsiCo partnership to boost Ethiopian chickpeas

By Martinne Geller

PURCHASE, New York | Tue Sep 20, 2011 11:07pm EDT

(Reuters) - PepsiCo Inc, best known for its cola and Lays potato chips, is now setting its sights on chickpeas.

The company is teaming up with the U.S. Agency for International Development to boost the production of chickpeas in Ethiopia by working with small farmers.

The plan is then to help develop local businesses that use the crop -- and, at the same time, secure a supply of chickpeas for Sabra hummus, which PepsiCo owns together with Israel's Strauss Group Ltd.

And in concert with the World Food Programme, PepsiCo will also develop a chickpea-based food supplement to target malnourished children in Ethiopia. If a pilot involving a few thousand children were successful, the company would spend $1 million to buy the product and distribute it for one year to up to 40,000 children, many of whom are suffering from the effects of famine.

"What's different about this is that the need on the humanitarian side is dovetailing so perfectly with the business plan on the corporate side," said Nancy Roman, the World Food Programme's director for private partnerships.

PepsiCo is unveiling the plan on Wednesday at the Clinton Global Initiative, former U.S. President Bill Clinton's annual philanthropic summit in New York.

PepsiCo also hopes to use the chickpeas to make a food product it can sell in the Ethiopian market, where it currently has a small presence selling locally produced drinks and some snacks imported from Egypt. It also would like to boost the amount of chickpeas it sources from Ethiopia, for use in its hummus spreads or for other potential products in the future.

Derek Yach, senior vice president of global health and agriculture policy for PepsiCo, emphasized the business case for the project along with the humanitarian case.

"You have to have a profit margin if it is going to be sustained," Yach said in an interview at PepsiCo headquarters in a New York suburb. "This is not the Ethiopia one normally thinks of. We are coming in early, when opportunities are at their maximum and government is supportive of real change."

BOOSTING SUPPLY AND DEMAND

The International Monetary Fund expects Ethiopia -- the No. 6 producer of chickpeas globally in 2008, the latest year for which figures are available -- to show economic growth of about 7.5 percent this year, albeit off a low base.

read the rest at Reuters

[murlee]

Ethiopia readies 3 mn hectare for investors

Ethiopia, a landlocked country located in the horn of Africa, is readying over 3 million hectare of land for investors to develop large-scale commercial farms, according to a government official.

“We have developed 3.6 million hectare from the National Land Bank to attract foreign direct investments. Of this, we have already allotted 400,000 hectare, with 70 per cent being to Indian investors. The remaining three million-odd hectare is now available for local and foreign investors,” said Esayas Kebede, director, ministry of agriculture and rural development, Ethiopia.


He was speaking to Business Standard at the India-Africa Business Partnership Summit, a two-day event focused on bilateral trade between the two countries organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) here recently.
Ethiopia, which has privatised cultivation of cotton, palm oil, rubber and sugarcane, the identified investment priority areas, had so far seen investments to the tune of $6 billion from India. Over 9,200 investors had received licences for developing large-scale commercial farms in Ethiopia since 1996, out of which around 1,300 are foreign.

“There are also huge investment opportunities in the areas of agro processing, horticulture and floriculture, dairy, meat and leather products. The leasing rates are rational. What we are looking for is rich investors from India, China and other countries, who can contribute to the social development of Ethiopia and help reduce food insecurity,” Kebede said.

The leasing period depends on the crop. For annual crops, the lease period would be up to 20-25 years, while it would be up to 35-40 years for perennial crops, with the minimum investment to take land on lease being $100,000, he added.

Kebede said that the Ethiopian government had a clear policy, specially on the incentives side. Investors are facilitated with a seven-year tax holiday. They are also allowed to repatriate 100 per cent of their earnings to any country out of Ethiopia.

Brushing aside reports on forcible relocation of locals and poor wages to those working on the new farmlands, he said, “We are expanding large-scale farming only in areas where we have sufficient arable land without depriving local farmers of their livelihood. Around 3 million people here are expected to require foreign food assistance this year. We expect our commercial farming initiatives to solve this food shortage.

http://www.business-standard.com/ind...estors/452743/

[popa1980]

Originally Posted by abesha

Ambo Gnemer Agro & Integrated Industries - Making citizens become investors



Full interview is found on the link; I just quoted the parts specifically about agriculture.

http://www.ethiopianreporter.com/pre...iew&Itemid=518

This company obviously lacks the experience to develop and manage such a large piece of land. Bring in the Brazilians or something. Im always dubious when newly formed local companies with little or no experience are given these big contracts. A new local company starting off with 2 or 3 thousand hectares is okay. But this? I would even rather a foreign company that was obliged to sell half of its output locally.

[AM2]

Interesting news on indian company farming cotton in Ethiopia:

Indian textile company launches cotton harvest, spinning plant
To provide at least 3,000 jobs
Indian based CLC Industries Plc will harvest by next month the first 2,500 hectares of cotton from the 25,000 hectares of farm land they recently leased. CLC Industries are operating in two locations, Jawi zone in the Amhara regional state on 5,000 hectares of land and the Danguru district of Benishangul Gumuz state where they have 20,000 hectares. So far they have invested 789.4 million birr.
They plan to use the cotton to create a huge spinning plant for textiles in Kombolcha located on 50 hectares of land, which is expected to start commercial production by the second quarter of 2013.
CLC Industries feel they can produce a large amount of cotton using modern technology and machines from India. The company produces hybrid cotton seeds of Indian origin in its farms which can be ripened for harvest within five to six months of planting.
The company currently has 1,100 employees in the cotton farms including seven Indian experts and when the cotton seeds are ripe they expect to employ 10,000 people.
At first CLC Industries will export two containers of cotton per day. They plan to supply approximately 1200 Metric Tons of Lint Cotton to local textile companies starting next month. Beginning in 2013, the company’s textile factory will be using the cotton from their own farms.
This month CLC will begin constructing the textile factory that they plan to invest 70 million dollars into, said their liaison officer Markos Terfa.
“We have already signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Turkish owned Ayka Addis and Kombolcha Textile companies to supply cotton to their factory and we are in negotiation with other textile companies as well,” Markos told Capital.
He says the factory should employ 1,200 and plant 50,000 spindles for the first stage. A loan from the Development Bank of Ethiopia has allowed them to purchase state of the art machines from Italy, Belgium and India. When the factory is fully operational it will provide 3,000 jobs.
Markos says that the company chose Ethiopia for its first African investment because the country is stable, has a favorable investment climate and will benefit from a five year tax exemption the government is allowing for cotton producers. He added that Ethiopia only covers 35 percent of its cotton needs from the domestic market.
CLC industries is a subsidiary of CLC Spintex, an Indian company established in 1946 with headquarters in New Delhi and five factories in India with other factories located in Uzbekistan, Czech Republic, Turkey and Malaysia. The turnover capital of CLC Spintex was about 600 million dollars in 2010.

http://www.capitalethiopia.com/index...-news&Itemid=4

[AM2]

Related to the above post, I found the land lease agreement between the indian company and the ethio government online. I guess this is an attempt at transparency by our government ... The lease payment totals at about 830million birr for 25000 hectares. Interesting ...
http://www.eap.gov.et/sites/default/...-Agreement.pdf

[Yoniii]

Wise move, keeping everything a secret with only boost false rumors.

[abesha]

Good article:

Spreading in Gambella

Investment, criticism, opportunity

In a sparsely populated area of 3.4 million hectares of Gambella Regional State, foreigners have become a increasingly common sight over the past five years. A growing number of companies have shown interest in venturing into the agriculture sector there and the government has been letting them.

The number of companies who have been granted investment licences in the region has jumped into the hundreds since 2005/06. Yet only 34 licences had been granted in the five years before that. This interest by both local and international companies to lease land in the region has been met with criticism from pundits as nothing more than land grabbing.

There has been no environmental impact assessment done to date and people are being driven off their lands forcefully, allege these pundits, one of which is the Oakland Institute, a think-tank based out of California in the United States.

However, theirs is not an accusation the Ethiopian government seems to have given much attention to. It has been staunchly refuting the allegations and has been accusing these proponents of disseminating such claims to promote hidden agendas. The investment allows for job creation, technology transfer and helps in food insecurity on lands that have lain bare without any agricultural activities on them, it argues.

The government believes that the lands which are not used by small farmers should be used for huge commercial farms and thus require huge capital investment. Indeed some of the companies involved in the region’s plan for big projects require heavy machinery and investment in infrastructure.

One of the companies that have acquired land, perhaps the biggest in Africa, is India-based Karuturi Agro Products Plc, which received a 100,000ha plot. It plans to plant sugar cane, rice, cotton and maize.

A project by a subsidiary of Karuturi Global Ltd, through the Agro Products Plc, is the first venture for the company. Karuturi is known as the biggest rose producer in the world.

Having finished a one-year-long harvest of seedlings on 63ha for its sugar cane plantation, it is now planting 10,000ha with it. Also in the works is the erection of a sugar factory.

Karuturi believes that accusations of residents in the area not based on facts.

“The area used to be covered by forest which we had to clear,” Karmjeet Singh Sekhon, project director, told Fortune. “Our projects benefit not only the company but also the local people in terms of employment and transfer.”

On top of the sugar cane plantations and the factory construction projects, the company is also undertaking construction of residential buildings for the company’s employees. Currently, there are 362 permanent and another 650 to 1,600 contractual employees in the company.

However, not all employees are not happy with their pay.

Abera Lera, 28, is one of the employees of the company. Although he has been working for the past seven months for a salary of 1,800 Br, he says it is not commensurate with work in the area.

“We do not have hardship allowances and we have to cover our own food expenses,” Abera, who has worked at Wongi Sugar Factor for 10 years. “Although we have been told the situation will get better, I am thinking about leaving the job,” he told Fortune.

Sharing his concern is Deneke Tora, who also works at Wongi with Abera.

Similar discontent is echoed by employees of Saudi Star, another mega investment project in the region. Incorporated in 2009 with a capital of 500 million Br, Saudi Star aims to grow rice on a 10,000ht plot it acquired using water from the Alwero Dam, which was constructed during the Dergue Regime to supply water to grow cotton.

It plans to access this dam, which has been idle for two decades, using a canal, to irrigate the farm. To facilitate this, the company has signed a contract worth 85 million dollars with GRC, a Pakistani company, for the construction of more than 30km of canal two weeks ago. The Pakistani company has agreed to complete the project within 11 months.

The company, established by Mohammed Al-Amoudi, has already put 80 million dollars into buying agricultural machinery and equipment from Caterpillar, which will be delivered by Ries Engineering SC.

Girma Umad, 28, is one of the employees currently working as a machine operator at Saudi Star. Before he came to work at the project, he used to live in the nearby town of Abobo with his parents.

Although he appreciates the chance to work without having any prior skill sets, he is not happy about the pay as well.

“I have managed to develop the skills needed through observation and personal practise, he told Fortune in appreciation for the overall working conditions. “However, the 25 Br I get a day is not even enough for my daily meals.”

A few weeks back some of the field workers had gone on strike demanding an increase in pay. This was triggered by an increase in wages for those involved in construction work.

However, the issue was resolved after discussions with the workers who received an increment of three Birr a day. The misunderstanding occurred as the increments were not given to all at the same time, according to Seifu wolde, the construction manager at the site.

Despite their complaints, many of the workers are still happy about the work opportunity they are getting.

“It is exactly this kind of technology transfer using machinery that we want to have shifted to our people,” Goaner Yer Zuor, vice president of the regional state, told Fortune.

It seems that the notion of employing local labour is taking root at Ruchi Agro Plc, another Indian company, which received 25,000ha in March 2009. The labour composition at the site is 70pc local, with the remaining technicians coming from India, according to Manohar Lankella (Phd), project manager of the company.

“We employ Indians because we use modern technology,” he told Fortune. “But they are also here to teach locals about how to use them.”

Currently Ruchi employs more than 160 employees.

Manhohar has had the same response to the “land grab” accusations, which he too says are not true.

“The land was empty and we had to clear the land before we could start our work,” he told Fortune, responding to accusations that people were forced to relocate to give way for his company.

Obanga Amir Okoch, 25, a native to the area and an employee of Ruchi agree. Obanga grew up in a local area called “fugnido. The land had lain bare for many years, and people were forced to relocate there during the military regime, according to Obanga.

“However, people left right after the regime was overthrown because they were put there against their will,” he explained to Fortune.

On the other hand, locals like Edosa Telila, 25, who has a diploma in law, seem to have no problem with the presence of foreigners on their land. In his view the locals are benefiting from ground water works and donations of maize at harvest time.

However, it is not just foreigners who have received land in the region, but local companies as well. One such company is Bazen Agricultural & Industrial Development which leased 10,000ha in 2005. It is currently preparing to undertake the clearing of 3,000ha to use as part of 7,200ha for its plantation.

Cotton, peas, maize and mango constitute the main cash and food crops currently cultivated on 2,300, 160, 80, and 53ha of land, respectively. A preliminary 10ha of vineyards also makes up part of the total cultivated land by the company so far. The company has plans to increase the actual cultivated land to 5,230 hectares by 2013.

The current potential harvest from its cotton farm, which takes up the lion’s share of the company’s cultivated land, is about 28 to 30ql per hectare, according to Desta Gebre, General Manager of Bazen, which employs, 48 permanent, 67 contractual and on average 913 seasonal workers.

“More than 60pc of the daily workers usually come from Wolaita in the Southern Regional State, while the balance is made up of local workers from around the farm site,” he told Fortune.

Workers at Bazen seem to have less to complain about than other sites. Daily workers get paid 22 Br along with a kilogramme of maize flour, 50 gram of shiro and 30 gram of salt daily. They sleep in dormitories and receive one Birr for every kilogramme of crop they collect on top of their salary during the harvest season.

It seems that while many outside the area debate the land grab issue, the real concerns on the ground for the most part are about wages. Hardly any of the workers of the people who live nearby seem to have any notion that they are being overrun.

There are 306,916 people living in the region, many of whom are not involved in agriculture at all.

Allegations of land grabbing are totally baseless, according Wondimu Filate, public relations expert at the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).

“The current government policy in agriculture promotes both commercial and small agricultural farming,” he told Fortune, saying that anyone who wants to get involved is handled according to their request.

Commercial agricultural investors who want to lease less than 5,000ha of land can conclude their agreement with the regional states while agreements in excess of that are at the federal level.

The large scale commercial agricultural ventures for which specialized equipment and know-ow are required cannot be undertaken by local companies, according to Wondimu.

Indeed this has been the case for a few of the farms in Gambella. Karuturi reported a loss of 15 million dollars when the Alwero and Baro rivers flooded. The company lost 60,000tn of maize that would have been collected despite the presence of dikes on the sides that face the rivers.

However, the 1.8m tall dikes were not enough to withstand the onslaught of water. That prompted the company to place dikes all around the farm and increase the height of existing ones. Currently, it plans to build a polder, which is low-lying tract of land enclosed by dikes forming an artificial hydrological entity with no connection to outside water.

This is to be accomplished by building walls that are four meters tall and nine meters wide.

As this is an undertaking that cannot be done by a local company, Karuturi has hired Water and Power Consultancy Services (WAPCOS), an Indian public sector enterprise with autonomy to enter joint ventures and subsidiaries, to provide consulting services in flood control and the design of irrigation & drainage systems. Water Watch, a Dutch advisory firm, has also been retained to provide satellite information on hydrological processes and water management issues.

The undertaking will cost as much as the crop that was lost, officials of the company had told Fortune after the flooding.

The magnitude of the scale of projects is also comparable at the farm site of Saudi Star. Not being able to find local companies to construct the canal for its irrigation, it has had to look outside and settled on the Pakistani firm.

It is also constructing two 25-million dollar mills in Gambella and Bishoftu (Debrezeit), 47km from the capital, for the processing of the rice it grows before it is packaged

http://www.addisfortune.com/Spreadin...pportunity.htm

The workers at Bazen (the local company) seem to have it made. This is why local investors need to be encouraged to go into farming - we have more emotional investment in the workers than foreign investors, so are more likely to give better incentives.

Some complaints are legitimate, but others are just ridiculous. The guy earning 1800 birr per month is being a complete brat. He lives in the middle of nowhere! People in Addis don't earn that

[Yoniii]

I enjoyed the article, it's nice to read about projects that's operational.

Indians are there to earn a quick buck, and I welcome them, but it's like you say.. a local is more likely to care about the people's well-being as well.

[Ahadu]

Originally Posted by Yoniii

.... but it's like you say.. a local is more likely to care about the people's well-being as well.

Almost all local business men and women are the most brutal with dull business mind & zero creativity...locals do not hesitate to hide edible oil under their bed to create artificial shortage.

“I have managed to develop the skills needed through observation and personal practise, he told Fortune in appreciation for the overall working conditions. “However, the 25 Br I get a day is not even enough for my daily meals.”

Classic Ye Abesha attitude!

[abnet]

This years grain harvest from small hold farmers estimated to be 218 million quintals (21.8 million tons) .This is really a good news after last years drought affected the south-eastern regions and last Novembers unseasonal rainfall threaten the harvest.
Ethiopia plans to increase agricultural output from 19 million tons in 2010 to 39 million tons in 2015.
To watch the news check it below starting the 4:30 min.

[abesha]

Didn't know where to put this clip. It's about a recently-built water reservoir in Afar and how it's changing the area. http://www.ethiotube.net/video/15933...e-of-the-Afars. It's an odd and long documentary. Just skip parts here and there to get the gist of it.

[rasta55]

Originally Posted by abesha

Didn't know where to put this clip. It's about a recently-built water reservoir in Afar and how it's changing the area. http://www.ethiotube.net/video/15933...e-of-the-Afars. It's an odd and long documentary. Just skip parts here and there to get the gist of it.

Tendaho Dam is what the documentary is about... the sugar corp is counting on it to irrigate about 60,000 ha of sugar cane plantation in the Awash Delta, for the factory they plan to install there... I believe the construction for the canal system is still on-going...

The dam (& its reservoir) has multiple benefits for the local community; and one significant impact will be in flood protection... the Dubti area had to deal with Awash overflows for decades (especially since Koka Dam started losing reservoir capacity due to silt ).... not any more ...