ADDIS ABABA – Contract Farming Proclamation, which is expected to control misuse and abuse of farmlands by illegal brokers and ensure the benefits of all sides involved, is presumed to be approved soon, according to a legal expert familiar with the issue.
Speaking to The , a legal expert at the Ministry of Agriculture Ahmed Abdullah, said that the proclamation is developed taking the Ethiopian context into account and expected to be effective when it gets fully operational.
Developing lands with contract farming is significantly useful in avoiding misuse and abuse of the farmers’ lands by some illegal brokers and benefiting all sides.
Contract farming involves production by farmers under agreement with buyers for their outputs. “This arrangement can help integrate smallscale farmers into modern agricultural value chains, providing them with inputs, technical assistance, and assured markets.”
Ahmed further noted that if the proclamation is implemented following the right legal system and experiences, contract farming will be quite important to boost farmers’ productivity and enhance the national economy Since the government has created an enabling environment for investment, this move will lead the country towards holistic development, he added.
“All relevant actors are expected to work in a coordinated manner in a bid to address complaints and bureaucratic red tapes witnessed so far with a view to ensuring national development.”
The developed investment proclamation and regulation have highly taken the current and actual circumstances of the country that will help realize national development into consideration.
Accordingly, various activities are being undertaken to make the investment proclamation and regulation applicable based on national and local context, the expert elaborated.
BY MULATU BELACHEW
The Ethiopian 20 February 2022
