Nation Gives High Priority to Expand Irrigation Dev’t Across Country: Irrigation, Lowlands Ministry
Minister of Irrigation and Lowlands said the government of Ethiopia has given the highest priority for the expansion of irrigation development across the country with a view to accelerating agricultural productivity and ensure food security.
In an exclusive interview with ENA, the State Minister of Irrigation and Lowlands Endrias Geta said the ministry has been undertaking various activities to adequately tap the potential of irrigation for agricultural development in the country.
Accordingly, he said efforts are being exerted to prepare national irrigation development policy, and designing irrigation projects among others.
The State Minister pointed out that preparation of irrigation road map is also being finalized to outline the irrigation development program, set the policies and standards, to identify the all over potential of irrigation, location and the type of technology that can be utilized.
New irrigation developments, maintenance, design and research activities are also being carried out in various regions of the country over the past nine months of the current fiscal year, he added.
To date, some 1,080 irrigation projects have been completed, with over 251,550 hectares of land made available for development over the past nine months of the current fiscal year, the ministry disclosed.
The achievement is three folds larger than the Ministry’s original target for the fiscal year benefiting around 354,000 households, it added.
The ministry has also distributed more than 51,000 pumps since last July, enabling renewable energy use and directly benefiting over 174,000 households.
Similarly, 744 old irrigation infrastructures with a capacity of cultivating 43,780 hectares of land have been maintained, the state minister indicated.
Source: Ethiopian News Agency