HORIZON Plantations CEO Elucidates Challenges of Agricultural Investment in Ethiopia
By Mekonnen Teshome
The “Addis Weg” round table held to gather information to be used for the agricultural sector improvement efforts
Addis Ababa (February 6, 2020) – CEO of Horizon Plantations PLC, one of the MIDROC Ethiopia Investment Group Companies, Mr. Jemal Ahmed, elucidated that misconception about private investment, bureaucratic non-responsiveness and complicated monitoring by state actors are among the major challenges of business people engaged in the Ethiopian agricultural sector.
The CEO was speaking on Wednesday, February 5, 2020, as one of the panelists on the “Addis Weg”, New Dialogue, which is a periodically facilitated expert’s round table by the Office of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia where he highlighted key issues and challenges of agricultural investment in the country.
Jemal told participants of the round table held at the Office of the Prime Minister and themed “key reforms of the agricultural sector!” that agricultural companies have also their own pit falls in producing customer oriented quality agricultural products as well as backing their investment with Research and Development (R & D).
The other speaker of the day Prof Alemayehu Seyoum, an agricultural researcher, also recommended improvement in land management, long-term ownership, policy reform and modernization of agricultural practices to improve productivity.
Dr Workneh Ayalew, livestock Resources Specialist, on his part said enhancing stakeholder’s teamwork is preferable to increase productivity, instead of attempting to create new structures.
Indicating that the investment on livestock resources in Ethiopia is very minimal which is not even corresponds with the required amount of animal and animal products export, Dr Workneh further suggested more investment in the livestock sector.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed also showed up during tea break and gave encouragement to participants
He further recommended the enhancement of private sector involvement and technological assistance to help increase productivity and create more jobs in agricultural investment.
According to Dr Anteneh Girma of the Ministry of Agriculture, the roundtable aims at gathering information to be used for the agricultural sector improvement efforts.