Ethiopia Sows 7 Million Hectares So Far in Rainy Season, Aiming for Food Sovereignty — Agriculture Minister

Addis Ababa, July 13, 2025 (FMC) — Ethiopia has so far covered seven million hectares of land with seeds during the current rainy season, as part of a broader effort to achieve food sovereignty, Agriculture Minister Girma Amente announced.

Speaking on the progress of this year’s cultivation season, Minister Girma told ENA that the agricultural sector has shown impressive performance in recent years across the main (meher), spring, and irrigation harvest cycles.

He revealed that the government plans to sow crops on a total of 21 million hectares nationwide during this season. Of this, significant areas have already been planted with cereal crops such as maize, while the remaining land is being seeded with teff, wheat, barley, and other crops in accordance with regional agroecological conditions.

The minister expressed optimism about a better harvest this year, citing increased adoption of modern agricultural technologies and extensive awareness-raising campaigns among farmers.

Inputs essential to boosting productivity — including fertilizer, improved seed varieties, and other agricultural resources — have been delivered on time to farming communities, he noted.

Minister Girma underscored the importance of the summer (meher) season, which accounts for about 70 percent of the country’s total annual agricultural output. This year, 13 million hectares are being cultivated under the cluster farming model — an increase from the previous year. He emphasized the continued expansion of cluster farming as key to improving productivity and efficiency.

Mechanized farming is also on the rise, with 6 million hectares cultivated using machinery this season — up by one million hectares from the same period last year.

The most significant breakthrough, according to the minister, is the growing embrace of technology by Ethiopian farmers, which is transforming the sector’s productivity.

Ethiopia has set an ambitious target to harvest over 659 million quintals of crops by the end of the season through the cultivation of 21 million hectares of land.