The Agricultural Caravan, launched by the OCP Foundation, will be crisscrossing four regions of the country during the next agricultural season to complete the Ethiopian soils fertility map.
This Caravan will strengthen the technical and scientific capacities of small farmers and agronomists of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock in Ethiopia, in terms of good agricultural practices focused on the reasoned fertilization of crops.
More than 100,000 hectares will be mapped during the pilot phase of the project with more than 1,000 composite soil samples taken and analyzed.
Addis Ababa, 1 June 2018. The Agricultural Caravan, launched by the OCP Foundation in several sub-Saharan African countries, is calling on Ethiopia. It targets 4 regions of the country in its pilot phase (Oromia, Amhara, Tigray and SNNP).
The OCP Foundation continues its commitment to the emergence of sustainable and resilient agriculture in Africa. After launching two Agricultural Caravans in 2017, Togo and Madagascar, then Burkina Faso last May, the kick-off of a new stage was given on 1 June 2018 this time in Ethiopia, in Addis Ababa.
The launch ceremony of the Caravan was chaired by the Minister of Agriculture and Ethiopian Breeding, Mr. Shiferaw Shigutie, the State Ministers Dr. Eyasu Abrha and Dr. Kaba Urgessa, the Ambassador of Morocco in Ethiopia, Mrs. Nezha Alaoui M’hammdi in the presence of the President of the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency Mr. Khalid Bomba, the Director General of the Ethiopian Soil Resources Institutes, Pr. Fassil Kebede and the Director General of the National Soil Testing Center of Ethiopia “, Mr. Fikre Mekuria and other senior local authorities.
The work of the Caravan will then continue in 4 regions of the country, namely Oromia, Amhara, Tigray and SNNP. The aim is to complete the soil fertility map for a pilot area of the country before the end of October 2018. No less than 100,000 hectares of soils must be mapped with no less than 1,000 composite soil samples to be collected and analyzed. The results of these analyzes will help create a decision support tool for better fertilizer recommendations.
The launch of the OCP Caravan is an opportunity to illustrate the partnership between the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock and the OCP Foundation. This partnership concerns first and foremost the strengthening of the technical capacities of the Ministry’s agronomists in the fields of soil fertility and rational fertilization of crops, quality control of fertilizers, as well as that of Geographical Information Systems ( GIS) applied to soil mapping. To this end, 15 Ethiopian agronomic executives benefited from technical training under the theme soil fertility & crop fertilization and 4 laboratory technicians followed, in Morocco, a practical one-month training course in quality control of fertilizers in Morocco. level of the Industrial Complex of Jorf Lasfar.
The partnership also involves equipping two soil testing laboratories (a fixed laboratory and a mobile laboratory) with the materials required to analyze the soil samples that will be collected as part of the development project. Soil fertility map of Ethiopia and carry out quality control tests of fertilizers.
Finally, this cooperation also aims to set up an Agricultural Caravan consisting of rolling stock for the organization of awareness sessions for small farmers on good agricultural practices of the main crops grown in Ethiopia.
As a reminder, agriculture is the main economic sector in Ethiopia (100 million inhabitants). It accounts for 45% of GDP, accounts for 83% of employment and accounts for 90% of exports. It brings together 12 million smallholders and several hundred commercial farms. Coffee, oilseeds and livestock are the main sources of income for Ethiopian farmers.
OCP Group attaches great importance to the development of the Ethiopian market. As a reminder, a partnership of more than $ 2.4 billion was signed in 2016 of over $ 2.4 billion for the construction of a fertilizer plant. Located in the region of Dire Dawa, this unit, with international standards, will provide a production capacity of 2.5 million tons of inputs per year. This will enable the country to achieve self-sufficiency in fertilizer while creating export opportunities. To this must be added an additional investment of $ 1.3 billion, which will allow the platform to reach 3.8 million tonnes per year and thus cover all the fertilizer needs of farmers in the country, which counts 100 million inhabitants.
ABOUT THE OCP FOUNDATION
The OCP Foundation aims to contribute to human development among the most vulnerable populations, in Morocco and in several countries of the South. Driven by values of sharing and openness, the OCP Foundation is mobilized every day around several axes such as education, training and research, economic and social development, agricultural development, the promotion of culture and heritage preservation, reflection and strategy ..
For more information, please visit: www.ocpfoundation.org
