Official announces "good prospects" in Ethiopia for horticulture dev't, increasing share in market

Addis Ababa, April 5(ENA)-- Minister of State for Trade and Industry has said there was some ground for optimism about good prospects for increasing Ethiopia's share of world trade in horticulture.

Fantaye Biftu was speaking here on Saturday at a half-day seminar entitled: Direct Flower Marketing. The Ethiopian Horticulture Producers and Exporters Association (EHPEA) and Florimex, Germany organized the seminar.

Fantaye told the seminar that Ethiopia has been witnessing a growing interest by domestic and foreign business people to invest in the horticulture sub-sector.

The horticulture development in Ethiopia is in its infancy and the country lags behind in exploiting the favorable market, according to the Minister of State.

He said, Ethiopia has a favorable agro-climatic condition to develop horticulture, adding, the government has created a favorable environment to promote investment in the sub-sector.

Moreover, he said, the government has also amended the investment code in order to allow domestic and foreign investos to participate in the provision of air cargo service.

"However, we should be prepared to meet the challenges of a rigorous market competition in terms of quality, price and delivery time by improving our management capacity skills and productivity," he indicated.

As the government has emphasized the cardinal importance to diversifying agricultural production, horticulture development is considered one of the priority areas as it is a high value product and because the country has a favorable agro-climatic condition to develop horticulture, he said.

EHPEA Chairman, Tsegaye Abebe told the seminar that the global trade in floral products was showing a rapid growth.

He said Ethiopia is exporting upto 600,000 legs of various floral products weekly.

He called for coordinated efforts by the Ethiopian Airlines, Customs, Investment Authority, Trade and Industry Ministry, the Media and stakeholders to develop the sub-sector.

Deputy head of mission of the Embassy of Germany in Ethiopia, Walter Stechel on his part said, Ethiopian rose products were of quality standard with high demands in the global market.

Ethiopia had not exported any flower product in the years 1996/97, he said, adding, the country managed to export 345.3 tons of floral products in the year 2002.

There has been plan to export 600,000 tons this year.

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