An Egyptian model farm is to be created in Ethiopia on an area of some 500 feddans (acres) with the potential for expansion in the regional state of Afar some 600 kilometres north of Addis Ababa.

"Executive steps for creating the farm will start within a month," said Abdel-Aziz Abdel- Nabi, the Chairman of the Agricultural Research Institute in Cairo, while on a visit to Addis Ababa. He added that the farm comes within an accord signed between the Egyptian Minister of Agriculture Salah Youssef and his Ethiopian counterpart last September with the aim of promoting agriculture co-operation between the two countries.

According to the agreement the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture will be committed to offering the technical advice, appointing Egyptian experts to operate the farm, providing the wages of the temporary workers as well as supplying seeds and equipment for the cultivation.

For its part the Ethiopian ministry is committed to providing the land for cultivation, the infrastructure, storehouses, administrative bureaux, training centres, electricity, roads and permanent sources of water for irrigation, as well as paying the wages of the permanent workers.

The accord also includes exempting all production requirements from taxation and custom duties, creating more farms in other areas in Ethiopia and   marketing their products in local and foreign markets.

Source: The Egyptian Gazette – June 14, 2012. Originally titled ‘Egyptian model farm in Ethiopia’.

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