Farmers to develop over 45,000 hec of land through irrigation

Over 186,000 farmers have been developing over 45,000 hec of land in West Gogam Zone of Amhara State through irrigation, an official in the Zone Agriculture and Rural Department said. According to the regional office, the farmers produced selected seeds, over 6,300 quintal of fertilizer and over 91,000 cubic meters of compost on a given area of land. They cultivated crops which have a market demand by harnessing rivers and making use of water pumping machines and dams. The output obtained during the reported period exceeded last year’s harvest by 26,000 quintals. The number of participants also exceeded that of the previous year by 37,000.

Rural towns get access to wireless telephone services

Some 1,042 rural towns in five zones of Oromia State have got access to wireless telephone services in the West Region, The Ethiopian Telecommunication Cooperation (ETC) said. Region Manager, Girma Beyecha, said the region has been benefited from the service. Over 500 customers in three towns will benefit from an automatic telephone service.

‘Black Gold’ premiered in Ethiopia

‘Black Gold’, a documentary film that revolves around the Ethiopian coffee farmers and their ill-treatment by the lucrative coffee industry, premiered in Addis Ababa at Gihone Hotel as the 2nd Addis International Film Festival opened. The film particularly depicts how coffee farming countries like Ethiopia are losing out in a multi-billion dollar coffee industry.  General Manager of Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union said that the film has been showing on major television stations in the USA, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom.  

Assosa Int’l Airport construction being speeded up.

The Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority has said that the construction of Assosa International AirPort is being speeded up. The construction costs 87 million Birr. Authority Planning and Market Development Coordinator, Nega Wondimu, said that 30 percent of the construction of the airport was launched a year ago. So far, the construction has consumed over 32 million Birr and is expected to be completed in the coming year.

Assosa to host the 4th National Micro- finance Institution Meeting.

The 4th National Micro-finance Institution Meeting is to be held in Assosa Town, Benshangul Gumuz State from 24-28 March 2008.  State Credit and Savings Manager, Asamamaw Damite, said that the meeting would serve as an important venue in which to share experiences and to review the institute’s operations. At the meeting 26 research papers will be discussed and 28 micro-finance institutions would be represented.

Consumer cooperatives under formation in metropolis:

Bureau Consumer cooperatives are under formation in all kebeles of the metropolis in order to stabilize the market, the Addis Ababa Trade and Industry Bureau announced. According to the bureau, some 99 consumer cooperatives are getting organized and these cooperatives would purchase commodities directly from producers and supply them to people of low income. Bureau Cooperatives Promotion and Inspection Department Head, Geremachew Abebe, said that 12 of the 34 existing cooperatives in the capital were assisted in creating a market link.

Price of grain declines slightly

The price of grain has reportedly declined to 50 Birr per quintal in the capital city. According to some anonymous traders, the decline shown happened following the lifting of vat tax and turnover tax. Accordingly, the price of a quintal of maize fell from 310 Birr, teff from 600 Birr to 540 Birr, beans from 450Birr to 430 Birr, peas from 465 Birr to 445 Birr and chicken peas from 460 Birr to 410 Birr.

 AU, Italian gov’t to sign 10 mil USD agreement to support Somalia

The Italian Government and the African Union signed a 10 million USD worth agreement which will be used to execute 3 projects aimed at reinforcing the Somalia Public Transitional Federal Institutions. According to a press release from the Italian Embassy over 2.5 million USD will be used to reinforce the Somalian Public institutions. The second project, with a total amount of over 3.5 million USD will go towards supporting the AU mission in Somalia, AMISOM, with a civilian component in order to back up the Somalia Police. The last project, worth 4 million USD, will assist the African Union which is helping the Somalia Civil Security Forces in capacity building.