2.

Explain the main contribution, potentials, characteristics , and problems of Ethiopian

agriculture

Agriculture is defined as the purposeful tending of animals and plants.It provides: basic food
supplies for the population; raw materials like cotton, sugar cane, oil seeds, etc. to industries;
export crops, from whose sales industries infrastructure and the like may be established; and
employment for the population.

Contributions of Ethiopian Agriculture

 Agriculture accounts most of 30-42%t of the Growth Domestic Product of the country
 Agricultural products account more than 90% of foreign exchange earnings of the
country
 Agriculture provides raw material for the processing industries
 Ethiopian Population derive its livelihood more than 80% directly from agriculture

Potentials of Ethiopian’s Agriculture

Ethiopia has varies potentials regarding to aggro-ecological zones. Ethiopia has no:
 Less than 21 soil types with varying physical and chemical features.
 Alluvial beds of major rivers close to 16%.
 Vast grazing land and livestock resource (55-58%) of its total area.
 Livestock population with estimated 30-35 million.
 1st in Africa and 10th in the world with livestock.
Land Use
Ethiopia has:
 Total land area of about 113,000,000 hectares.
 Land use pattern in the country estimated 12.6 million hectares (10.3% intensively
cultivated).
 15.3 million hectares (12.5% is moderately cultivated).
 High forest and wood land areas account for 6.9%.
 Grassland for 30.5% of the total area.
 Lands that can be brought under rain-fed cultivation is limited to 100km stretching from
Gambella, bordering Sudan to Humera in the north.
 Major river-basin of the country can irrigate 3.5million hector of land.

NB: Currently, 16,1010 ha or 4.6% is irrigated around the major river basins.

Agricultural land use in Ethiopia

 Lake access to the land is directly correlated with incidence of poverty in rural areas.
 Quality of land has a direct bearing on the productivity of agriculture
 Land ownership has a social value and serves as a security for credit, natural hazards or
life contingencies, and also adds to the social status.

Cropping Season in Ethiopia

Their are two main crop seasons: Belg and Meher season
 Belg is the rainfall season from February to June, while Meher from June to October.
 Belg crop season is any crop harvested between March and August while Meher crop
season is any crop harvested between September and February.
 Meher crop season produce 90-95% of the nation’s total cereals output.
 Belg provide the remaining 5-10% of cereal output.

Cropping Pattern in Ethiopia

 The highlands of Ethiopia are easily distinguished from their lowlands counter parts as
far as the pattern of agricultural land use is concerned.
 The number of crops grown decreases as one moves from the central highlands to the
peripheral lowlands. The highlands are thus, more diversified than the lowlands cereals
(teff, wheat, barely, maize, sorghum, etc) are the most important crops in Ethiopia.
Animal Husbandry
 Ethiopia has largest livestock population. The distribution of livestock production in
terms of aggro-ecological zone and administrative region is very uneven.
 75% of them are cattle and sheep population found in the highlands.
 70% of goat and 100% of camel population found in the lowlands.
 More than 90% of livestock found in Oromia, Amhara and SNNPR.
 In Afar and Somali where livestock are central to the livestock to the livelihood of the
pastoral population.
 Total of livestock output 70% is contributed by cattle.
 Livestock contributes 30-35% to agricultural GDP and 13-16% to overall GDP.
 Livestock contributes about 13% of the total value of agricultural export.
 Contribution of hides and skins from the livestock export is the highest (more 95%).

Characteristics of Ethiopian Agriculture

1.Subsistence Orientation
 Peasants in Ethiopia mainly produce for their own households consumption and only
limited proportion is for the market.
 Peasants retain up to 80% of their produce for home consumption and seeds.
 Ethiopian peasants usually cultivate different types of corps (10-15) and rear different
types of livestock to meet their various needs.

2.Fragmentation of Farm Plots and Small Size of Holding

 Ever-increasing population that gave rise to continuous generational division of land
through generations; terrain irregularities and prolonged degradation, holdings are highly
fragmented in Ethiopia.
 Average number of plots per household ranges mainly from 3-8.
 Majority of the farming households possess less than one hectare of land, with the
average land holding dropping to 0.28 ha/household.

3. Lows Use of Inputs

 Ethiopian agriculture is identified by low use of natural and chemical fertilizers
 Less than 60% of smallholder farmers used commercial, chemical fertilizers while only
10% used organic fertilizers.

4. Susceptibility to Disaster
 Ethiopia is highly vulnerable to natural disasters such as drought which affects the lives
of millions of humans and animals.
 Limited soil conservation measures, forest destruction and expansion of agriculture into
marginal areas increased the frequency of drought.
 The natural disasters have usually resulted in famines.

5. Limited practice of irrigation and dependence on rain fed agriculture

 The proportion of cultivated land is so small due to physical (steep slopes and deep
gorges, water logging, salinization and siltation) and human (e.g. capital, technology,
skilled manpower etc) constraints.
 Over 98 % of the Ethiopian farmers rely on rain-fed agriculture.
 The possibilities of expanding agricultural land under rain- fed practices are limited or
are not very high.

Problems of Ethiopian Agriculture

Land Degradation
 The rugged topography
 The soil in many areas has lost some biological productivity and physical properties
needed for optimal plant growth because of erosion.
Variable Rainfall
 Heavily dependent upon unreliable rainfall which may produce surplus only in years of
favorable weather.
Land Fragmentation
 The high land farming area has been the cause for declining percapita landholding.
 The land is too small to produce any marketable surplus under the prevailing conditions,
subsistence and survival are the overriding concern of the farmers. It resulted in lack of
cash for investment, purchase of commercial inputs and purchase of oxen for land
preparation.
Land Tenure Insecurity
 communalization of land and continuing land redistribution erodes the incentive to invest
in permanent conservation and improvement on individual holdings.
Backward Technology
 Agricultural produce in transported by primitive means like pack animals and human
percentage.
 Low application of modern inputs fertilizer pesticides, and improved seeds) poor animal
breeds etc also characterize the Ethiopian small holder farming.
Poor Rural Infrastructure
 Agricultural output is usually carried long distance by traditional transport means like
pack animals or by humans, to sale place. The poor infrastructure has severely hampered
socioeconomic development particularly in the rural area.