Esrael Asrat

Reform activities in FriEL Ethiopia

Social Impact /

New farmland development and facility improvement were sought as part of the overall expansion and rehabilitation plan of FriEL Ethiopia Farming and Processing.
We believe this will boost productivity and show the company’s commitment toward mutual benefit with the employees by creating a better working environment and its development partnership with the government by increasing its productivity and production.

FriEL ETHIOPIA Farming & Processing Plc. is undergoing a major reform in all aspects of its operations envisaging a productive, profitable, and all-inclusive development. Major reforms achieved so far include:-

  1. Reorganizing and staffing of farm site and Addis office departments with professionals having rich experience in the sector since January 2019. In addition to that, a professional consultancy was also been hired to update the existing organizational structure, staffing plan, benefits scheme, job manuals, etc. in July 2019.
  2. Although the farm can develop 1,500 hectares (15%) of its total area coverage in the 2018/19 season – which is an improvement compared to previous years, new 2,500 hectares of land or 25% of the total area coverage has also been developed for cultivation on the next season (2019/20) making the total cultivable land reach 4,000 hectares (40%).
  3. With cultivable farmland expansion, fulfillment of farm machines such as excavators, graders, loaders, and dump trucks has already been done from January to July 2019.
  4. Purchase of three double cabs, one single cab, and one ambulance has also been made to facilitate the expansion and rehabilitation of both on and off-farm operations from January to July 2019.
  5. Civil work for the ginning plant has also commenced in June 2019 anticipating erecting the ginning plant in August 2019 to start operation before the 2020 season. The ginning machines are all imported and shipped to the farm site.
  6. Based on the company’s strategy to have an independent and reliable power source for the ginning plant, irrigation pumps, and other operations that require electricity, the importation of solar panels with a capacity of producing 300KW is underway with a plan to start erection and generation of power in September 2019.

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Transforming African Agriculture Through Mechanization

Infrastructure /

Africa’s population is expected to double by 2050, the continent must ditch the hoe in favor of modern technology, which will complete the same tasks far more efficiently.

A transformation from small-scale subsistence farms to mechanized, more commercially viable farms is essential. Currently, mechanization levels on farms across Africa are very low, with the number of tractors in sub-Saharan Africa ranging from 1.3 per square kilometer in Rwanda to 43 per square kilometer in South Africa, compared with 128 per square kilometer in India and 116 per square kilometers in Brazil. Without mechanized agriculture, productivity suffers drastically, lowering farmers’ earnings, notes the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.

Africa currently spends a whopping $35 billion annually on food imports, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB), which projects that if the current trend continues, food imports could rise to $110 billion by 2050. Africa should be the breadbasket of the world.

Technologies to achieve Africa’s green revolution exist but are mostly just sitting on the shelves. The challenge is a lack of supportive policies to ensure that they are scaled up to reach millions of farmers. One of the advantages of mechanized agriculture is that it can potentially attract youth to farms and put a dent in Africa’s high youth unemployment, which accounts for about 60% of total unemployed.

 

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Cotton

Crops /

Cotton production has been a central component of rural and urban Ethiopian life for centuries.
The traditional clothing has always been made of locally cultivated cotton spun on drop spindles
by women, and woven on hand looms by men. Most rural women and men living in areas where cotton
grows have the skills to process the fiber themselves.

Cotton is grown in lower elevation areas of Ethiopia on small farms and large alike – private and
government owed. In recent years, with the dramatic increase of textile industrialization, the demand for
cotton has significantly increased. Improving and increasing cotton production is a major Government
focus, and the sector is increasingly an area of foreign investment.
In addition to home production, farmers bring their crops to centralized cotton ginning plants where the
cotton is processed.
To date, there is no certified Fair Trade or organic cotton in Ethiopia. However,
there are a few initiatives in process to facilitate its production.

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Increased Cotton Consumption

Crops /

Cotton is one of agricultural products where production and consumption is more or less global in extent. Cotton is growing including Ethiopia, in more than 70 countries, where many developed and developing countries depend on import of lint for their spinning/textile industry.
The major cotton producers are located in the developed world, where USA is by far the largest producer, followed by China, India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and West African countries.
Cotton is a multipurpose crop cultivated for its highly valuable textile fiber (lint). Textiles made of cotton lint are strong, comfortable, washable and printable.Beside these, there are various reasons that led to accelerated increase in cotton consumption. One reason is related to boosted world demand for clothing that further led to increased cotton demand in the world. Clothing consumption, being a primary consumer good, is highly responsive to income, making demand extremely elastic for the short run change in income. As income grows however clothing consumption grows more slowly than income on average.

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This makes clothing and hence cotton to be consumed relatively higher by developing countries than developed countries. Rising income together with falling clothing prices that is further derived from falling fiber prices has also resulted in increased consumption of fiber. Compared to other competing fiber types in the market, cotton is now gaining its market share due in part to shifting global price trends after loosing its ground to polyester and other synthetic fibers for many years.

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