In preparation for the upcoming Meher agriculture season (from June to August), the government of Ethiopia has purchased 1.3 million metric tons of fertilizer.
Out of the total 625,000 metric tons of fertilizers is already imported into the country and is being distributed to farmers unions, according to Alemayehu Birhanu, communications head of at Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture, who spoke to the state broadcaster, ETV. He stated that his Ministry is working in collaboration with the federal ministry of transport to bring the fertilizers from Djibouti Port to the country, which has been a major challenge over the past years.
He noted that the country plans to cover 12.7 million hectares of land with crops during the coming Meher agriculture season, which begins in June 2019. In total Ethiopia targets to produce major crops of 406 million quintals during the 2011/12 Ethiopian calendar agriculture season.
Ethiopia reportedly spend around one billion dollars annually for importing fertilizer and wheat. In 2015, Ethiopia’s fertilizer imports was at its peak in December with 331,000MT (about 35% of all 2015 imports). Official reports show that in 2016 Ethiopia has invested $545.23 million.
Out of the around 30 million hectares of arable land of Ethiopia, the country is currently utilizing about 16 million hectares.