|
The Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervisory
Agency (PPESA) is set to grow cotton on 10,400hct of
land in Abobo Agricultural Development in the
Gambela Regional State using Alwero Dam. The Agency
has established a project office that manages cotton
plantations on 1,000hct of the upper Awash Agro
Industry, and 600hct on the premises of the Fruits
and Vegetables Development Enterprise.
The Agency has allocated 55 million Br for the
project as it aspires to supply sufficient input to
the booming textile sector.
Built on Alwero River during the military regime,
the Alwero Dam has been sitting idle for the past 17
years. The 2,500hct of Abobo cotton farm between
Alwero River and Baro Akobo River basins has been
rain-fed.
This year, 17,000qtls of cotton has been collected
From the 1,700hct of cotton plantation, Getnet
Belay, general manager of the project office, told
Fortune.
Federal authorities are not happy with foreign
exchange earnings of the textile sector. For
instance, in the 2007/08 fiscal year, the country
only earned 14.6 million dollars from textile
exports, although the target set was 64 million
dollars.
However, the government still believes that the
country has even higher potential. Beginning 2011,
it plans to fetch 500 million dollars from the
sector annually. This target is estimated to require
an investment of 1.6 billion dollars.
The government is privatizing large chunks of
state-owned plantations, granting these to close to
191 investors interested in growing cotton. For
instance, Dire Dawa, Awassa, Arba Minch and Ethio
Japan Nylon Textiles have been leased to private
investors. These have since undergone expansion,
while new private textile factories, such as Almeda
and Ma Garment have also joined them. Adam Spinning
and Ayka Addis Textile are expected to go
operational next September. Ayka Addis Textile
Factory. Moved from Turkey to Ethiopia.
Ayka Addis, which will start spinning 20tn of cotton
at the end of this month, is projected to earn 80
million dollars a year from textile exports. Adama
Spinning also has the capacity to process 100qtls of
cotton, while MA Garment, which is currently
undergoing expansion, plans to use 10tn of cotton as
input.
This is what prompted the government to invest in
cotton plantations. Cotton is grown at a commercial
level by Amibara Agricultural Development and
Tendaho Agricultural Development Enterprise. The
latter now falls under Tendaho Sugar Factory.
Ethiopia earned 14.3 million dollars from the export
of 11,760tn of cotton in the 2006/07 budget year. In
the first quarter of the following budget year, the
performance surpassed the target by 633pc, reeling
in a revenue of 4.1 million dollars.
The country currently harvests 55,000tn of cotton
and exports almost half of this to foreign markets.
The new dam on Alwero was constructed by Water Works
Construction Enterprise. The irrigation from this
dam waters 10,400hct of land, according to the
Ministry of Water Resources. However the dam needs
rehabilitation as it has been idle for years,
according to a source at Abobo.
The finance for the expansion project was secured
from the Industrial Development Fund.
|
