Agricultural systems in Ethiopia

Abstract

Ethiopia is basically an agricultural and pastoral country. Agriculture dominates the Ethiopian life to the extent that little progress can be made unless agriculture is attacked directly. Ethiopia is a country of peasants with primitive agriculture. The physical potential for sharply increased agriculture is high but the obstacles for development are immense still, despite recent government attempts. The two dominant agricultural systems in Ethiopia are the mixed agriculture of the highlands, where both crops and livestock production are integrated, and pastoralism in the lowlands. The mixed agriculture exhibits several subsystems. Commercial agriculture using the river basins, such as the Awash Basin, is a recent phenomenon. Agricultural research as a formal activity and national programme is less than twenty-five years old and has undergone three formative stages reflecting the level of government commitment to agricultural development. The agricultural research system has now entered a new period where policy and infrastructures are being well laid down with emphasis on rural development. But these developments must be matched by greatly improved human and financial resource allocations.