A signing ceremony for a grant agreement was held on 6 March 2012, between H.E. Mr. Hiroyuki Kishino, Ambassador, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ethiopia and H.E. Ato Ahmed Shide, State Minister of Finance and Economic Development at the Ministry. Based upon the said agreement, 490 million Japanese Yen, [about 109 million Ethiopian Birr] will be extended by Japan to Ethiopia.

On this occasion, H.E. Mr. Hiroyuki Kishino explained that the agreement was signed for Japan’s Grant-in-aid for the Food Security Project for Underprivileged Farmers with the aim of helping Ethiopia increase its food production.

H.E. Mr. Ambassador went on to indicate that agriculture is a key sector in the Growth and Transformation Plan [GTP] with a projected average annual growth rate of 8.6%. Facilitated by a 10-year program named the Agricultural Sector Policy and Investment Framework (PIF), the achievement in agricultural growth for the first year of the GTP was very impressive, reaching 9% which was higher than the target.

In this respect, H.E. Mr. Ambassador underlined that agriculture continued to be a priority sector in Japan’s ODA policy toward Ethiopia in view of the dominant role it played in the Ethiopian economy. Food security, which includes agricultural and rural development as well as water supply, is one of the two main pillars of Japan’s ODA policy in Ethiopia. In this regard, he said that Japan would continue to extend its assistance to Ethiopia for increased crop production and productivity in agriculture in accordance with the GTP and the PIF.

For increased crop production and productivity, H.E. Mr. Ambassador emphasized modern agricultural inputs are critically important, in particular fertilizer. Data shows that the annual average fertilizer demand in Ethiopia has gone up substantially, which will require additional foreign reserves. Therefore, Japan is pleased to play a modest role in mitigating the existing supply-demand gap of fertilizer through its Grant-in-aid Scheme for the Food Security Project for Underprivileged Farmers (KR II). He also expressed his conviction that he personally believed that assistance to help increase crop production was more important than food assistance itself.

Recalling the previous support of Japan to the sector, H. E. Mr. Kishino stated that Japan extended fertilizer as well as some agricultural equipment to Ethiopia through this KR II scheme since 1985. The total amount Japan has provided for the past quarter century amounts to 15.6 billion Japanese Yen, which is equivalent to 3.35 billion ETB at the current exchange rate.

In conclusion, H.E. Mr. Ambassador shared some of his wishes regarding this agricultural assistance. Firstly, this grant-in-aid program should be implemented as quickly as possible. Secondly, the agricultural inputs procured should reach underprivileged farmers so that the inputs will contribute to improving their livelihoods. Thirdly, he also hoped that, overall, the inputs will be used effectively so that they will complement the Ethiopian efforts under way to achieve the agricultural targets stipulated in the GTP.