The poor farming system such as mono-cropping contributed to soil degradation and nutrient depletion and consequently low yield (Marais et al., 2012). Organic materials such as organic manure and straw has been used for soil amelioration. However, the main causes of poverty in Ethiopia are brought on by the effects of its economy revolving around agriculture. This is true in the case of Ethiopia, where the youngsters are more motivated to buy and use the innovated and improved agricultural technologies than older generations even in recent times. Therefore, farm size affects agricultural sustainability in the economy, social aspects, and environmental performance of agricultural production, for instance, increasing farm size has a positive impact on farmers net profit, economic benefits, technical and labor efficiency with mean coefficients of 0.005, 0.02, and 2.25 in China, respectively (Ren et al., 2019). This report also argued that the farmers are barely able to feed their families and contributed to further environmental deterioration. Ethiopia's economy is dependent on agriculture, which accounts for 40 percent of the GDP, 80 percent of exports, and an estimated 75 percent of the country's workforce. The author received no direct funding for this research. The world conservation union, Nairobi, Kenya, How does population density influence agricultural intensification and productivity? MoFAN (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands). This report is agreed with the report of Boserup (1965), who indicated that farm sizes (at both the individual and community levels) are likely to be a key determinant of the demand for intensive technologies, such as plows, chemical fertilizers, high-yielding seeds, and improved natural resource management practices. . The effects of climate change (e.g., frequent occurrence of extreme weather . Effects of climate variability on development of wheat rust diseases (Puccinia spp.) The northern part of Ethiopia is highly affected historically by drought/famine several times. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Perhaps, environmental degradation, climate change, and limited advanced agricultural technology tend to be affecting much more the older farmers than their younger, healthier, and better-educated counterparts. Your email address will not be published. Illiteracy is another major reason why Ethiopia wallows in poverty. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Fragmentation of farmland affects the smallholder communities highly to produce in a sustainable manner following an inadequate policy that used to respond with the available endogenous technological changes and population growth (Headey et al., 2014). In addition, the countrys agriculture highly depends on rain-fed. The agricultural sector of Ethiopia has shown remarkable resilience over many centuries though it is now increasingly failing. Worldwide, it expenses more than 18-20 USD trillion USD annually (UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification), 2019). Ethiopias agriculture heavily relies on oxen plow and rain-fed that by neglecting other alternative technologies since the time of the Neolithic era (Diriba, 2020). The problems related to basic infrastructures like roads, hydroelectric generation plants, irrigation tools, and other farm equipment availability in the country and limitation of foreign currencies for importation also limited the attractiveness of the agricultural sector to private investors (Diriba, 2020). But its adaptation varies across countries and intercontinental level, for example, it is adopted highly in the cropland of Australia, Canada, and the southern cone of South America (above 50%) and low in Africa, Central Asia, and China (FAO, 2011a). avoids the problem of heteroskedasticity and endogeneity, reduces the problem of multi . The study area was purposively selected, and a simple random sampling method was used to selected households' fatteners from each kebele and interviewed using structured questionnaires. Only 2% of smallholder land is irrigated and as little as 3.7% have access to agricultural machinery. Around 80-85% Ethiopians are engaged in agriculture, mainly in subsistence and rain-fed farming and livestock production. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Ethiopia's GDP growth rate will increase by around 7.8% to 10% by 2023. The Government of Ethiopia (GOE) has identified key priority intervention areas to increase productivity of smallholder farms and expand large-scale commercial farms. Therefore, this paper is devoted to reviewing agricultural challenges and prospects in Ethiopia based on the available literature. 36 likes 22,568 views. Problems of Agriculture In Nigeria with examples. Feed shortage was the primary constraint in both areas. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. But this situation is exacerbated by man-made factors like deforestation, cultivation, or plowed vertical along a downslope direction that increases runoff and soil erosion (Bishaw, 2001). These still indicated very little transformation in the utilization of technologies in production. Particularly in the northern provinces, which have been settled with sedentary agriculture for millennia, population density has caused major damage to the soil's physical base, to its organic and chemical nutrients, and to the natural vegetation cover. In Ethiopia, the land is allocated to farmers by the state. Around 80.0-85.0% of Ethiopians are engaged in agriculture, mainly in subsistence and rain-fed farming and livestock production. This will demand an additional billion tons of cereal grains and 200 million tons of meat to be produced annually (FAO, 2017). Despite the numerous challenges, Ethiopia has marvelous opportunities like the commercialization of fruit, vegetable, and ornamental plant productions. Agricultural Production System in Ethiopia Agricultural production is dominated by smallholder households which produce more than 90% of agricultural . Ethiopias total export earnings by value increased by 12% from the previous year. The farming system in Ethiopia is disintegrated among stakeholders; namely: agricultural researchers, development experts, and farmers for a long period of time in the past. A higher rise in temperature noted in drier areas of the northeast and southeast part of Ethiopia (Abebe & Arega, 2020). Particularly, the GOE under the new administration has given renewed emphasis to develop the agriculture sector and ensure food security. It also reduced the plot size of farmland (Crewett et al., 2008). To learn about our use of cookies and how you can manage your cookie settings, please see our Cookie Policy. This also contributed to displacements and landlessness that even currently became a security problem at large in the country. Ticks (species of Rhipicephalus appendiculatus, Boophilus decolaratus, Rhipicephelus evertsi, and Amblyomma variegatum), Tsetse Fly (Glossina pallidipes), Mange (Chorioptes bovis, and Sarcoptes), biting flies (Stomoxys calcitrans (stable Fly)) are vector-borne parasitic diseases of livestock and endoparasites such as helminths (nematodes: Haemonchus, Ostertagia, Trichostrongylus (chaerbertia, oesophagostomum), Nematodirus, Bunostomum (hookworm), Toxocara vitulorum, cooperia, Dictyocaulus), estodes: moeniezia genus, cysticercus, Echinococcus granulosus), Trematodes (Fasciola hepatica, and Fasciola gigantic) and Coccidia are directly constrained livestock production in Ethiopia (Diriba, 2020; Welay et al., 2018; Ministry of Agriculture, 2014). This information indicated that the irrigation practice of Ethiopia is young and inefficient to produce at its full capacity. The major constraints in both project intervention and nonintervention areas include feed shortage, water shortage, disease, market problems, and poor breed performance. Salinity and Sodicity/alkalinity are the major problems that resulted in the valley due to irrigation practices in the enterprise. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. Current challenges facing the global food system. Ethiopia is among those developing countries that are making their best to improve the agricultural sector in the last few decades though much still remains. In fact, the soil erosion caused by rainfall is severe on the topography of the land that has a slope of more than 16%. The adverse impact of climate variability varies. the major issues discussed are: instability in grain prices finance and credit post production losses transportation and communication grades and standards storage processing information transactions costs f table 1: problems and knowledge gaps in grain marketing and probable solutions a constraint for They are helpful in the protection of natural resources and increase production and productivity. Loss of Arable Land threaten world food supplies, Ethiopia - Average consumer prices inflation rate. Just clear tips and lifehacks for every day. The traditional vegetables of Ethiopia have the potential for increased production and expansion of use to areas where they are less popular or not known at all. The country misused these gifted natural resources in agricultural activities possibly mainly due to the political unrest characterized by the frequent war that weakened the economy rather than focused on development. Check out a sample Q&A here. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". Particularly in the northern provinces, which have been settled with sedentary agriculture for millennia, population density has caused major damage to the soil's physical base, to its organic and chemical nutrients, and to the natural vegetation cover. Ethiopia. (, Ethiopian seasonal rainfall variability and prediction using Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA), Recent experiences in land rental markets in Ethiopia: Impact on equity, efficiency and poverty, Land, land policy and smallholder agriculture in Ethiopia: Options and scenarios, Economics of land degradation and improvement in Ethiopia, The role of livestock in the Ethiopian2 Economy: Policy analysis using a dynamic computable general equilibrium model for Ethiopia. In addition, the country's agriculture highly depends on rain-fed. However, in recent times in Ethiopia resettlement of farmers to the new arable farmland or to other national regional states of Ethiopia are unthinkable. . To make a sustainable intensification of crop and animal production, conserving water resources, adoption of ecosystem-based approaches, such as conservation agriculture, applying environmentally safe agricultural inputs, keeping soil healthy, and use of improved genetic material and nutrient management are required to boost Ethiopian agriculture. The countries of the world are interconnected and a problem of a country obviously becomes a problem of the others in the interconnected world at present than ever. major problems of agriculture in ethiopia The aim of this paper is to demonstrate trends and controversies of population growth and . Agriculture in Ethiopia is mainly dependent on rainfed systems, and this dependency has put the majority of the Ethiopian population at the mercy of meteorological variability. In short, unemployment, waterlogging in wetland areas, salinity in arid and semi-arid areas, acidity in high rainfall areas, pests (like weeds, diseases, and insects), and erratic rainfall distribution are the common problems. Science Business. Despite the numerous challenges, Ethiopia has marvelous opportunities like the commercialization of fruit, vegetable, and ornamental plant productions. FAO (2016) indicated that in Ethiopia the water flows along the Nile Basin, Rift valley, Shebelli-Juba, and the Northeast coast has the potential to irrigate about 5.7 million ha., but at present, about 2.7 million ha is utilized. It is projected that by 2050 the Ethiopia population will be estimated to be 171.8 million by increasing at a rate of 2.5% annually (Bekele & Lakew, 2014). The present study showed that the . Arable land refers to the potential of land where its soil and climatic conditions are suitable for growing crops and rearing animals. Therefore, multiple stakeholders including farmers, agricultural organizations, political authorities, development practitioners, researchers, technology innovators, businessmen, investors, and entrepreneurs should be working for hand in coordination and collaboration to deal with and solve these complex problems. For instance, waterlogging is highly problematic in Vertisols of the highlands while salinity is in lowland areas of the country (Merga & Ahmed, 2019). But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. The deforestation rate in Ethiopia accounts for 1.25% of forest and other woodlands 1.8% annually per year (GFRA (Global Forest Resources Assessment), 2015). Areas to increase productivity of smallholder land is allocated to farmers by major problems of agriculture in ethiopia effects of its economy around... Also argued that the irrigation practice of Ethiopia ( GOE ) has identified priority. 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