Agricultural Inputs worth $600 million Distributed to Farmers, Official says

ADDIS ABABA – Public enterprise, Ethiopian Agricultural Business Corporation, on Tuesday said it has distributed agricultural inputs worth over 600 million USD to farmer unions during the recently concluded 2020/21 Ethiopian fiscal year.

The farmers are expected to use inputs, including fertilizers, agrochemical and chemical spraying devices during the 2021 cropping season.

According to the Corporation, a total of 18.169,216 quintals of fertilizers and agro-chemicals were bought at a cost of 600 million US dollars.

Of these, nearly 16.3mln quintals of the inputs have already been distributed to farmer unions in various corners of the country, said Kiflie Woldemariam, CEO of the Corporation, while briefing reporters on Tuesday.

The enterprise has spent a total of 4.5 billion Birr to transport the inputs from Djibouti port to farmers unions, Kiflie said. This has helped “minimize the financial pressure”, he added.

The corporation also dispersed 73.93 million birr worth of agricultural equipment and spare parts to consumers in the just ended budget year.

Government’s decision to import agricultural mechanization machines, irrigation and animal feed technologies and other equipment tax-free last year helped the enterprise in particular and the sector in general, according to the enterprise.

Farmers are now getting tax free tractors and other forms of financial support from the government to encourage mechanized agricultural activities, the CEO said.

The corporation has some 24 mechanization centers across the country and has planned to increase the centers to 27 by next year.

The corporation has obtained 174 million gross profit from its activities during the concluded budget year, 110 percent of the plan.

Featured Image: Agricultural inputs arrive at one of the warehouse of the Ethiopian Agricultural Business Corporation [Photo File/EABC]