By Mengisteab Teshome
ADDIS ABABA- Irrigation-based lowland wheat farming in various Woredas and Zones would play a significant role in ensuring food security thereby pulling many out of poverty, Jimma Zone Administration stated.
Having a short stay with The Ethiopian Herald, Zone Communication Head, Yaya Aliye noted that 31,225 hectares of land had been prepared and over 1.2 million quintals of production is expected. If all regional States run activities in such a way keeping the set plan, Ethiopia will be self-sufficient in wheat production and will substitute import in short
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According to him, though the Zone smallholder farmers had cultivated wheat in a scattered manner, mobilization of over sixty-five thousand farmers to take part in the summer wheat irrigation project has been made possible.
“The Zone had responded to the call of Prime Minster Abiy Ahmed for concerted efforts to produce white with a view to realizing the import substitution to come up with a very productive way via drawing important lessons in that regard in the seasons to come
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He further noted that as wheat is becoming an important food crop used to quench the need for fast food such as bread, biscuits, pasta, noodles among others, it can be a viable means to address the rapid population growth associated with increased urbanization.
The Zone is making preparations to provide farmers with combiner that could help save time and reduce post-harvest loss.\
The Zonal leadership has been exerting much more efforts in making the plan a reality by sharing important lessons from past experiences, he noted.
The Zone has also potential rivers like Gibe and Saka that have been used to produce wheat using irrigation canals.
The Ethiopian herald march 12/2021Read the original article on Ethiopian Herald.