ADDIS ABABA, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian government on Friday disclosed that the country's wheat production has surged significantly, reaching 230 million quintals (about 23 million tonnes) during the 2023/2024 period.
The Office of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia said in a statement Friday that Ethiopian smallholder farmers cultivated 3.6 million hectares of land during the 2023/2024 fiscal year, yielding 123 million quintals of wheat.
With the East African country significantly expanding its irrigated land in recent years, the office said some 2.9 million hectares of irrigated land produced 107.7 million quintals of wheat, bringing the country's overall wheat production to over 230 million quintals during the reported period.
"Compare this to the 2019/2020 period, when smallholder farmers produced just 54 million quintals of wheat; that figure has soared with a remarkable leap," the statement read.
Ethiopia, which aspires to achieve food security and unlock its vast potential to become Africa's breadbasket, has recently announced a decision to further increase the country's wheat production output to 300 million quintals during the current Ethiopian 2024/2025 fiscal year that started on July 8.
The Ethiopian government has recently announced an 8.4 percent economic growth target for the current fiscal year, attributing to positive prospects in the agricultural, manufacturing, mining, and other major economic sectors.
According to the World Bank, Ethiopia, Africa's second-most populous nation after Nigeria with a population of about 126.5 million, is one of the fastest-growing economies in the region. Despite consistently high economic growth over the last decade, Ethiopia remains one of the poorest countries. The country aims to attain lower-middle-income status by 2025. ■