Miller Magazine Issue: 113 May 2019

43 NEWS MAY 2019 Ethiopia plans to make wheat import history Canadian G3 announces plans for two more new elevators in Alberta The Ministry of Agriculture of Ethiopia aims to end wheat import of the country by introducing mechanized farming and helping smallholder farmers engage in irri- gation agriculture. The plan was announced at a panel the Ministry of Agriculture organized in Addis Ababa at the UN Economic Commission for Africa. The panel focu- sed on the role of intellectuals in transforming Ethiopian agriculture. Currently Ethiopia spent annually around one billion dollars on wheat and fertilizers imports. Ethiopian agriculture is still dominated by smallholder farmers who are engaged in raid fed agriculture though the country has huge potential for irrigation and mechanized farming.This year smallholder farmers have covered over 1.1 million hectares of land using irrigation, according to the ministry. The ministry officials indicated that shortage of inputs including fertilizer, improved seeds and pesticides as some of the challenges Ethiopian agriculture is facing at the mo- ment, in addition to backward farming techniques small holder farmers have been using for centuries. At the end of this harvest season the country expects harvest 374 million quintals of major crops, including wheat. Wheat accounts for the fourth largest share of total cereal produ- ction. Out of the total 1.1 million km² land size of Ethio- pia, the cultivable land is about 13.2 million ha, or 12% of the total land area, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The cultivated land is about 6 million ha, or 45% of the cultivable area, and 5% of the total land area. Small-scale farmers occupy 96% of the crop- ped area, while the remaining 4% are cropped by State farms and Producers’ Cooperatives, according to FAO. G3 announced that it will build new high-efficiency grain elevators near Irricana and in Stettler County, Al- berta. Both new facilities will have a capacity of 42,000 tonnes and a railway loop track that can accommodate a 150-car unit train. Like G3’s other high-efficiency facilities in Western Canada, the elevators will be able to unload a Super B truck in less than five minutes. Construction on the new elevators is planned to start by this summer, pending final regulatory approvals. Construction is expected to be complete in 2020. “Central Alberta is one of the most important grain growing regions in Canada,” says G3 CEO Don Chapman. “We are excited to be able to provide farmers in the region a new choice to market their grain throu- gh modern facilities that will save them time and money.” G3 currently has four other high-efficiency elevators under cons- truction: at Morinville, Wetaskiwin and Carmangay, Alberta and at Maidstone, Saskatchewan, as well as a new port termi- nal under construction in North Vancouver, British Columbia.