AfDB president keen on working with Ethiopia

The Ethiopian herald 

The African Development Bank (AfDB) President, Akinwumi Adesina, has well appreciated the effort of the Ethiopian government to come up with a promising scheme for buttressing production and productivity and expressed willingness to work together.

Akinwumi Adesina, who is also the former Honorable Minister of Agriculture, Federal Republic of Nigeria, and World Food Prize Laureate, has encouraged Ethiopia’s wheat summer irrigation project that targets at feeding its population, even that of the continent.

Following Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (Ph.D.) tweet on Jan. 7, 2021: “The summer wheat cultivation through irrigation has been promising thus far. If we continue capitalizing on these gains, our wheat import substitution aspirations will be within reach,” the president stated that, “My dear brother Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, I’m excited with the great progress on summer wheat cultivation.”

The president further said, “The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group is supporting the scheme through our Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) initiative which provides farmers with heat-tolerant verities of wheat seeds.”

The president also applauded the Premier and congratulated him for this effort to transform Ethiopia; he has also shown keen interest in working collaboratively with the Ethiopian government in such appealing projects. “We can make a difference in all aspects of the continent in general if we can feed Africa well.”

According to the president, AfDB works to reduce poverty, and improve the living conditions of the people of the continent of Africa by working together in such effective projects across Africa.

It’s true in Ethiopia that cornerstones of different projects have been laid at various regions of the country such as the irrigation development project due to be constructed at Ajman-Chacha, in Angola, and Tara woreda of North Showa Zone of Amhara Regional State, which is going to be built at an outlay of 5 billion Birr.

The cornerstone of the Ajma-Chacha irrigation development project was laid by Agegnehu Teshager, Amhara Regional State President, and the FDRE Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Engineer Sileshi Bekele (Ph.D).

The project, which is expected to be completed in three years, would cover 7,000 hectares of land. And the construction will be carried out by Amhara Water Works Construction Enterprise, and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC). The entire irrigation dam would possess 45 meters high and 372 meters breadth area coverage.

The Ethiopian herald