Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has allocated 400,000 hectares of land for fruit, vegetable and horticulture producers in the country’s Rift Valley, Dire Dawa, Dedesa Valley and Tana Belese Corridors.

Horticultural investment is now to be centred in these regions, which are deemed to grow produce of higher quality than other areas of Ethiopia, and in which the farming communities are already very active.

“As part of its vision, the Ministry has intentions to increase the quality and overall productivity of the area’s rural farmers, and to privatise the state-owned horticulture enterprises that are active in this area by working with the Privatisation and Public Enterprises Supervisory Agency (PPESA), and to provide the necessary assistance to investors looking to enter the sector and the region,” said Ministry sources in the African press.

Ethiopia earned $12 million from horticultural exports to Djibouti and the EU in the 2005/06 budget year

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