Ethiopia: Transforming Subsistence Agriculture Said Crucial to Realize Poverty Reduction Strategy

from All Africa

The Ethiopian Herald (Addis Ababa)

ENA
Addis Ababa

State Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Dr. Abera Deressa said that transforming the country's subsistence agriculture is crucial to realize poverty reduction strategy and bring about economic growth in the country.

Dr. Abera said commercialization, intensive farming, and increasing the proportion of marketable outputs should be carried out to enhance the role of agriculture for the country's economic growth in the coming years.

The State Minister was speaking at the 14th annual conference of Plant Protection Society of Ethiopia (PPSE) here yesterday.

Dr. Abera said efforts are well underway to increase agricultural productivity through the national endeavour to attain food security and to supply enough raw materials for domestic industries as well as to produce foreign exchange earner export commodities.

The government has put in place specific policies and provided technical and institutional support in its drive to increase food production through intensive cultivation, the State Minister said.

He said the interventions include supply of fertilizer and select seeds, development of small scale irrigation schemes, and conservation of natural resources, among others.

PPSE President Dr. Abraham Taddesse on the occasion said that the society is finalizing research works it has been undertaking so far and is ready to embark on a new way of research methods in the coming millennium.

Some 37 papers focusing on plant pathology, weed science, plant protection and the country's policy and regulatory aspects of plant protection, among others, would be presented in the course of the four-day conference.